JNIVERSI 


.ALIFORNIA.  SAN  DIEGO 


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LIBRARY 


.          ' 

SAN  DIEGO 


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ITY  OF  C   LIFORNIA   SAN  DIEGO 


31822027246214 


<| 

• 


REMINISCENCES 


CHARLESTON, 

LATELY    PUBLISHED    IN    THE     CHARLESTON    COURIER,      AND     NOW 
REVISED     AND     ENLARGED     BY     THE     AUTHOR, 

CHARLES    FRASER. 


CHARLESTON. 

JOHN    RUSSELL 

1854. 


,      ,-;•-    r- 


COPYRIGHT      SECURED 


CHARLESTON. 
HARPER  &  CALVO,  PRINTERS, 

No.  82VCHALMBHS-STREBT. 


PREFACE. 


THE  following  pages  were  originally  written  to  be  read  in 
private,  before  an  association  of  literary  friends,  and  were 
afterwards,  by  request,  published  in  the  Charleston  Courier. 
As  their  subject  appeared  to  excite  some  interest,  they  are 
now  offered  to  the  public  in  a  more  durable  form  than  the 
columns  of  a  newspaper.  They  have  been  enlarged  by  the 
addition  of  a  few  topics,  which  the  writer  has  thought  worthy 
of  preservation.  He  is  aware  how  far  he  ventures  in  descri- 
bing scenes  and  incidents  that  have  so  long  passed  away. 
But  he  has  the  gratification  of  knowing  that  his  reminiscences 
have  been  deemed  correct  by  the  few  of  his  cotemporaries 
who  now  survive. 


•* 


of 


MAN,  as  lie  advances  in  life,  becomes  less  and 
less  identified  with  surrounding  associations.  As 
he  begins  to  have  a  glimpse  of  the  limit  of  his 
journey,  his  thoughts  revert  to  the  checkered 
scenes  through  which  he  has  passed — which,  if 
pleasant,  refresh  and  enliven  his  memory ;  and,  if 
otherwise,  console  him  with  the  thought,  that 
they  have  been  already  encountered,  and  can  no 
longer  annoy  him.  In  this  retrospect,  circum- 
stances, whether  of  danger,  trial  or  happiness,  are 
regarded  alike;  not  with  indifference,  but  with 
that  feeling  of  security  which  nothing  but  a  tri- 
umph over  past  vicissitudes  could  produce. 

Hence,  the  weary  pilgrim  of  life  lingers  over 
the  memory  of  the  past,  and  is,  so  far  selfish  in 
his  enjoyment,  that  he  neither  expects  nor  receives 
.  V 


6  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON. 

the  sympathy  of  those  around  him.  If  distance 
lends  enchantment  to  -the  uncertain  future  of 
youth,  objects  beheld  through  Ihe  vista  of  the 
past,  by  a  wise  provision  of  nature,  lose  but  little 
of  their  former  freshness;  and  whilst  passing 
incidents  are  speedily  forgotten,  amidst  the  accu- 
mulated cares  of  age,  the  scenes  and  impressions 
of  early  life  are  remembered  with  promptness 
and  precision,  and  often  form  the  chief  topic,  both 
of  thought  and  conversation,  as  if  to  draw  the 
mind  off  from  the  cares,  and  ills,  and  infelicities 
that  press  upon  it. 

These  reflections  might  be  pursued,  if  enough 
has  not  been  already  said,  to  show  the  appropri- 
ateness of  the  poet's  expression  of  "  Narrative  old 
age,"  and  "  Laudator  temporis  acti" — and  also  to 
excuse  your  host  in  passing  over  the  multiplied 
topics  which  the  improvements  of  the  present 
age  have  gathered  around  him,  for  both  specula- 
tive and  practical  reflection,  to  dwell  upon  the 
irrevocable  pas't. 

The  subject  selected  ,for  this  evening's  conver- 
sation, is,  as  you  are  aware,  his  own  reminiscences 
of  Charleston — a  theme  endeared-  to  us  by  a 
thousand  interesting  associations — the  last  home 
of  the  fathers,  and  kindred,  and  friends  of  so 
many  of  us ;  the  scene  of  so  many  trying  events 
in  the  times  of  the  revolution ;  the  birth-place  of 


| 

*'  '     *V** 

MY    REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  7 

so  many  of  its  prominent  and  honoured  patriots, 
and  in  its  present  nappy  condition,  furnishing  so 
grateful  a  commentary  upon  the  history  of  the 
past. 

The  design  is  not  without  its  difficulty,  inas- 
much as  it  necessarily  involves  egotism,  and  has 
to  do  with  ordinary  and  common-place  topics. 
But  I  am  encouraged  by  the  thought  that  my 
recollections  extend  to  but  a  comparatively  brief 
period,  and  will  not  exclude  the  remarks  of  those 
who  are  versed  in  its  antecedent  history,  or  whose 
recollections  coincide  with  my  own.  .And  what 
more  interesting  series  of  years  could  there  be  in 
our  local  history,  for  memory  to  dwell  upon,  than 
that  which  immediately  followed  the  revolution — 
when  Charleston,  after  two  long  years  of  subjec- 
tion to  a  haughty  and  uncompromising  enemy, 
found  itself  in  the  enjoyment  of  law  and  liberty ! 
its  banished  citizens  restored  to  their  homes — 
social  intercourse  no  longer  interrupted — business 
reviving — industry  seeking  its  long  suspended 
employments,  and  every  effort  being  made  that 
wisdom  and  moderation  could  devise,  to  recover 
from  the  long  interval  of  suffering  and  confusion, 
which  our  devoted  city  had  so  signally  expe- 
rienced. I  can  never  forget  the  animated  account 
which  General  Moultrie  gave  me  verbally  of  that 


••*• 


8  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

happy  day,  which  witnessed  the  departure  of  the 
British  troops  from  Charleston. 

The  period  under  consideration  is  also  impor- 
tant in  another  respect.  A  new  character  was 
developing  itself  in  our  countrymen,  suitable  to 
that  condition  which  resulted  from  our  independ- 
ence. From  being  loyal  subjects,  they  had  be- 
come a  sovereign  people,  with  all  the  obligations 
of  providing  for  self-government,  and  of  cultiva- 
ting the  resources  which  nature  had  so  bountifully 
extended  to  them ;  obligations  calculated  to  fill 
the  mind  with  the  fullest  sense  of  its  power  and 
dignity,  to  direct  its  energies  to  the  noblest  pur- 
poses, and  to  produce  an  elevating  effect  upon  all 
the  manners,  habits  and  associations  of  life. 

It  was  also  interesting  in  another  and  larger 
sense.  The  revolution,  which  gave  us  a  national 
existence,  although  geographically  limited,  was 
the  greatest  moral  era  recorded  in  the  history  of 
mankind.  Not  confined  to  those  whom  it  imme- 
diately liberated  from  political  subjection,  it  was 
a  revolution  of  the  human  mind,  disenthralling  it 
from  the  power  of  antiquated  dogmas,  and  the 
humiliating  bondage  of  ignorance  and  prejudice, 
infusing  into  it  a  new  vigour  and  vitality,  and 
expanding  its  sphere  to  the  utmost  reach  of  hu- 
man attainment.  It  was  the  result  of  a  series  of 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON.  9 

causes  advancing  for  ages  in  the  land  of  our  an- 
cestors; and  after  leading  to  a  revolution  which, 
established  their  liberties,  became  linked  to  the 
destinies  of  their  descendants,  and  followed  them 
to  these  shores,  to  erect  a  new  theatre  for  their 
fuller  development. 

There  is  scarce  an  advantage  enjoyed,  even  in 
those  communities  least  disposed  to  admit  it, 
which  may  not  be  traced  to  the  impulse  that  the 
American  revolution  gave  to  modern  enterprise 
and  ingenuity.  In  its  results,  it  has  made  society 
universally  familiar  with  comforts  never  before 
dreamt  of  in  the  whole  range  of  philosophy, 
opened  new  sources  of  wealth  and  interchange, 
and  done  more  to  unite  the  human  family  in  the 
bond  of  common  interest  and  mutual  good  will, 
than  could  have  been  produced  by  the  happiest 
coincidence  of  ordinary  causes. 

If  the  enquiry  should  h^re  suggest  itself  to  any 
of  you,  "what  have  these  reflections  to  do  with 
the  subject  before  us?"  the  reply  is  brief,  but,  to 
my  mind,  satisfactory.  They  explain  in  them- 
selves the  great  secret  of  that  striking  contrast 
which  Charleston,  in  its  present  prosperity,  parti- 
cipating largely  as  it  does,  in  all  the  wonderful 
improvements  of  the  age,  exhibits  with  its  misera- 
ble and  impoverished  condition,  at  the  period  of 
my  earliest  recollection  of  it.  The.  war  of  the 

2 


10  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHAELESTON. 

revolution  had  left  the  whole  State  in  great  finan- 
cial embarrassment.  There  was  no  circulating 
medium  but  what  issued  from  the  State  upon  the 
credit  of  taxes.  Expedient  upon  expedient  was 
adopted  to  supply  the  want  of  a  currency,  but 
always  failing  to  give  that  security  to  contracts, 
which  is  the  great  reliance  of  commercial  inter- 
course. 

Less  favoured  in  its  local  circumstances  than 
the  larger  cities  of  the  North,  Charleston  had 
difficulties  to  contend  with,  unknown  to  them. 
The  motives  to  increased  exertion  presented  to 
Charleston,  in  common  with  them,  could  only 
act  upon  a  portion,  and  that  a  minority,  of  her 
population.  The  climate  was  inhospitable,  and, 
therefore,  unfriendly  to  increase.  Its  intercourse 
with  the .  interior  was  beset  with  difficulties ; 
for  the  roads,  at  that  season  most  important  for 
transportation,  were  often  almost  impassable. 
These  were  all  serious  obstacles  to  her  advance- 
ment, and,  operating  perhaps  with  other  local 
causes,  had  their  full  effect  in  retarding  it. 

Until  the  introduction  of  cotton,  as  a  staple, 
and  the  extended  and  improved  cultivation  of  rice 
on  the  river  swamps,  Charleston  was  greatly  de- 
pressed. But  the  increased  production  of  these 
two  great  commodities,  occasioned  a  wonderful 
change  in  her  circumstances.  Banks  were  estab- 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  11 

lished,  a  start  was  given  to  enterprise,  her  mer- 
chants prospered,  industry  was  stimulated,  and  a 
new  era  dawned  upon  her.  That  trade,  which  had 
been,  in  a  great  measure,  monopolized  by  Great 
Britain,  before  the  revolution,  was  now  extended 
to  every  part  of  Europe,  and  the  valuable  pro- 
ducts of  South  Carolina  were  sought  for,  as  in- 
deed they  now  are,  in  every  foreign  market. 
What  gave  spirit  to  commerce  and  enhanced  its 
profits  at  that  period,  was  our  entire  dependence 
upon  foreign  importations  for  every  article  of  use ; 
whilst  the  immense  growth  of  "manufactories  in 
this  country,  at  the  present  day,  has  made  us  so 
far  independent,  as  to  enable  us  to  receive  in 
luxuries  those  valuable  returns,  which  were  then 
made  in  necessary  articles  of  consumption.  Now 
Charleston  itself  produces  manufactured  cotton, 
and  even  exports  its  own  cotton — allowed  to  be 
superior  to  any  of  the  same  quality  wheresoever 
produced.  *• 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  mention 
briefly,  in  connection  with  these  views,  the  entire 
change  which  the  local  trade  of  Charleston  has 
undergone  within"  my  recollection.  This  being 
the  chief  port  of  entry  for  the  State,  all'  merchan- 
dize had  to  pass  through  its  Custom  House.  The 
merchants  of  Charleston  had  to  supply  every  part 


12  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON. 

of  the  interior  of  the  State,  and  received,  in  return, 
their  tobacco,  indigo,  peltry,  and  other  articles, 
which,  being  in  demand  in  foreign  markets,  be- 
came profitable  shipments.  That  you  may  have  a 
better  idea  of  the  trade  of  Charleston,  I  will  read 
here  an  extract  from  a  paper,  containing  the  Har- 
bour Master's  report,  on  the  2d  January,  1*797, 
which  states  that  there  were  then  sixty-seven 
square-rigged  vessels  in  port,  thirty  four  schooners 
and  sixteen  sloops  ;  and  on  the  2d  February,  of 
the  same  year,  ninety:one  square-rigged  vessels, 
and  fifty-eight  schooners  and  sloops.  At  that 
time  there  were  many  English  and  Scotch  mer- 
chants permanently  settled  amongst  us,  with  whose 
success  Charleston  was,  in  a  great  measure,  iden- 
tified. It  was  not  then,  as  it  is  now,  a  place  for 
adventurers  in  trade,  to  take  up  a  transient  resi- 
dence for  the  purpose  of  thriving  upon  the  pro- 
duce of  our  agricultural  industry,  and  of  investing 
their  profits  abroad.  All  the  retail  business  of 
the  State  was  then  centered  in  Charleston,  and 
every,  part  of  it  depended  on  her  for  supplies. 
The  chief  retail  stores  were  kept  in  Broad,  Elliott 
and  Tradd  streets,  and  the  goods  so  variously 
assorted  in  them,  that  there  was  scarcely  an  arti- 
cle, from  a  two-pence  yard  of  ribbon,  through  the 
whole  scale  of  plantation  and  household  commodi- 


MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON.  13 

ties,  but  what  might  be  procured  at  them.  At 
one  counter  might  have  been  seen  the  planter 
purchasing  his  hoes  and  axes,  his  plows  and  sad- 
dles, his  osnaburghs  and  negro  cloth ;  whilst  at 
another,  in  the  same  store,  a  lady  was  bargaining 
for  her  laces,  her  satins,  and  her  muslins.  Shop- 
ping amongst  the  ladies,  in  those  days,  was  alto- 
gether a  business  matter.  King-street,  now  so 
attractive,  with  its  gorgeous  windows  and  dazzling 
display  of  goods  emulating  a  Turkish  Bazaar,  and 
inviting  them  to  a  daily  fashionable  promenade, 
was  then  chiefly,  occupied  by  hucksters,  pedlars, 
and  tavern  keepers.  Hence  it  was  not  uncommon 
to  see  liveried  equipages  and  wagons  drawn  up 
before  the  same  store.  If  the  commercial  interests 
of  the  city  prospered  in  those  days,  it  was  because 
they  were  mainly  founded  on  domestic  capital, 
and  conducted  by  those  who  were  permanently 
established  here,  and  who  were  extensive  ship 
owners.  There  were  no  stores  for  the  exclusive 
sale  of  any  particular  articles,  such  as  shoes,  hats, 
hardware,  crockery,  saddlery,  etc.,  as  we  have 
now.  The  only  exceptions  were  two  jewelry 
stores,  Jack's  and  Wightman's,  and  one  book  store, 
which  was  Muirhead'sT  in  Elliott-street,  nearly  op- 
posite Gadsden's-alley,  nor  was  there,  at  that  time, 
a  single  wholesale  merchant  in  Charleston.  The 


14  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

earliest  that  I  can  hear  of  was  in  A.  D.  — ,  White- 
field  &  Brown,  in  Bedon's-alley,  near  Tradd-street. 

It  would  interrupt  our  observations  to  enter 
into  an  examination  of  the  general  causes  then  at 
work,  affecting  the  prosperity  which,  before  the 
year  1807,  our  merchants  had  enjoyed.  We  will 
only  mention  their  results,  so  extensively  and  so 
ruinously  experienced.  Capital  declined,  vessels 
disappeared,  prices  fell,  produce  accumulated  on 
their  hands,  non-intercourse,  embargo,  war,  para- 
lyzed commercial  enterprize ;  and  so  great,  at 
length,  became  their  depression,  that  scarcely  a 
ship  was  owned  in  Charleston.  However  figura- 
tive may  appear  the  expression  of  one  of  our 
Senators  in  Congress,  that  the  grass  was  growing 
upon  our  wharves,  my  own  remembrance  bears 
testimony  to  the  truth  of  it. 

But  this  season  of  adversity  passed  away,  al- 
though its  effects  were  long  and  deeply  felt. 
Never,  perhaps,  in  the  history  of  the  world,  was 
any  given  portion  of  time  so  fruitful  in  great  and 
useful  discoveries,  and  so  practical  in  their  appli- 
cation to  human  comfort  and  prosperity,  as  the 
long  interval  of  peace  which  commenced  in  1816. 
The  light  of  the  sun  is  scarcely  more  widely 
diffused  over  the  surface  of  the  earth,  than  the 
blessings  that  flowed  from  the  united  and  unre- 


* 


. 

* 
MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  15 

strained  efforts  of  human  ingenuity  and  enterprise, 
in  ameliorating  the  condition  of  society,  and  ad- 
vancing its  destinies,  than  what  marked  that 
glorious  period.  Sufficient  for  our  purpose,  it  is 
to  say,  that  Charleston  once  more  raised  her  head, 
cheered  with  the  hopes  and  the  prospects  of  better 
days ;  and  now  finds  her  prosperity  based  upon 
a  surer  foundation  than  any  upon  which  it  has 
ever  yet  rested.  Connected  with  the  earliest 
period  of  that  favourable  change,  was  a  fact  in 
our  local  history  that  demands  to  be  noticed. 
Cotton  had  been  found  to  pay  the  planter  so 
much  better  than  tobacco,  that  in  a  few  years  it 
entirely  superseded  it.  The  inspection  buildings, 
put  up  at  so  much  expense,  were  taken  down, 
and  the  multiplied  enactments  of  our  Legislature, 
regulating  the  sale  of  that  staple,  became  a  dead 
letter.  The  increased  production  of  cotton  in  the 
interior  led  to  a  very  lucrative  business  in  the 
upper  parts  of  King-street.  Large  stores  were 
established  there,  and,  as  wagons  were  the  only 
means  of  transportation  then  used,  extensive  wa- 
gon yards  were  laid  off  for  their  accommodation. 
The  cotton,  as  it  arrived,  was  either  purchased 
out  of  the  wagons,  or  bartered  for  goods,  and 
afterwards  resold,  at  an  advance,  to  the  shippers 
on  the  Bay.  But  the  back-country  planters  be- 
coming aware  of  the  advantage  taken  of  them  by 


V* 

.»i  A     . ' 


16  Mt    REMINISCENCES    OF    CHARLESTON. 

this  course  of  trade,  had  their  cotton  stored  on 
the  wharves,  and  employed  regular  factors  to  sell 
for  them,  which  cut  off  those  intermediate  profits, 
out  of  which,  in  the  meantime,  large  fortunes  had 
been  made  by  the  King-street  merchants. 

And,  in  more  recent  times,  the  wagon-yards  of 
King-street  have  given  place  to  the  rail-road  de- 
pots; and  the  hissing  of  steam  has  succeeded  to 
the  smack  of  the  cracker's  whip. 

We  seldom  see  an  Indian  now,  in  our  streets, 
but  I  remember  when  their  visits  to  Charleston 
were  very  frequent,  and  in  large  groups.  These 
miserable  remnants  of  the  warlike  tribes  which 
had  once  spread  terror  amongst  the  inhabitants  of 
the  province,  and  brought  defiance  even  to  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  town,  excited  no  other 
feeling  than  that  of  commiseration  for  their  fallen 
condition.  They  supported  themselves  on  their 
journies  down  by  bartering  clay  pottery,  and  'ex- 
hibiting their  skill  with  the  bow  and  arrow,  but 
seldom  carried  anything  back  in  return,  spending 
all  they  received  •  in  liquor.  On  these  journies 
they  were  always  accompanied  by  their  squaws 
and  children,  each  bearing  some  little  portion  of 
their  prog.  Their  visits  were  so  regular,  that 
some  of  them  formed  acquaintances  with  the  in- 
habitants. There  was  one  who  never  came  to 
town  without  a  visit  to  my  father,  always  inquiring 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  17 

after  his  family,  and  addressing  my  mother  as 
sister.  But  with  every  kindness  shown  him,  a 
glass  of  rum  was  always  expected  as  the  crowning 
act  of  hospitality. 

The  oldest  bank  in  Charleston,  that  I  remember, 
was  the  South  Carolina  Bank,  which  carried  on 
business  for  some  years  before  it  was  chartered. 
It  was  kept  on  the  south  side  of  Broad-street, 
under  the  residence  of  Mr.  Bacot,  its  cashier, 
(nearly  opposite  the  State  Bank.)  A  branch  of 
the  old  National  Bank,  chartered  in  1790,  was  also 
established  here  .much  about  the  same  time,  and 
was  located  in  that  old  brick  house  at  the  south- 
east corner  of  Church  and  Elliott-streets,  and 
afterwards  removed  to  the  edifice  in  Broad-street, 
now  owned  by  the  Hebrew  Benevolent  Society. 

It  was  upon  occasion  of  the  establishment  of 
these  banks,  that  Dr.  Ramsay,  in  his  history,  re- 
marks, "that  the  term  depreciation,  which  was 
common  in  the  revolutionary  war,  and  for  eight 
years  afterwards  became  obsolete,  and  apprecia- 
tion took  its  place."  And  if  I  have  been  particu- 
lar in  mentioning  their  location,  it  is  to  enable 
you  to  trace  those  two  great  engines  of  financial 
regeneration  to  the  humble  habitations  in  which 
they  had  their  earliest  abode. 

General  Washington's  visit  to  Charleston  was 
made  on  the  twenty-first  May,  1791 ;  and  amidst 


18  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

every  recollection  that  I  have  of  that  imposing 
occasion,  the  most  prominent  is  of  the  person  of 
the  great  man,  as  he  stood  upon  the  steps  of  the 
Exchange,  uncovered,  amidst  the  enthusiastic  ac- 
clamations of  the  citizens.  I  remember  that  the 
place  prepared  for  his  accommodation  was  that 
large  three-story  double  house  in  Church-street,  a 
few  door^north  of  Tradd,  then  owned  by  Judge 
Heyward,  and  said  to  be  superbly  furnished  for 
the  occasion.  He  remained '  here  but  one  week, 
but  it  was  a  week  of  continued  rejoicing  and  fes- 
tivity. Every  attention  that  hospitality,  public 
and  private,  could  devise,  was  shown  him,  and  it 
must  have  been  very  gratifying  to  the  citizens  of 
Charleston  to  receive  from  General  Washington 
himself,  on  his  departure,  the  warm  acknowledge- 
ments which  those  attentions  had  won  from  his 
heart.  One  of  the  civilities  which  he  received, 
was  a  splendid  concert  and  ball,  given  at  the  hall 
of  the  Exchange.  On  that  occasion,  the  ladies 
wore  fillets,  or  bandeaus*  of  white  riband,  inter- 
woven in  their  head-dress,  with  the  head  of 
Washington  painted  on  them,  and  the  words, 
"Long  live  the  President,"  in  gilt  letters.  Every 
hand  that ,  could  hold  a  pencil,  professional  or 
amateur,  was  enlisted  to  furnish  them.  But  that 

*  I  have  one  of  the  bandeaus  worn  on  that  occasion. 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OP   CHARLESTON.  19 

which  proved  the  most  lasting  memorial  of  his 
visit  was  the  whole  length  portrait;  which  the 
city  council  requested  him  to  sit  to  Col.  Trumbull 
for,  and  which  now  adorns  the  City  Hall. 

Col.  Trumbull  had  previously  visited  Charleston 
and  remained  some  time  here,  as  the  guest  of 
Chief  Justice  Rutledge,  at  whose  house  he  painted 
the  likenesses  of  several  distinguished  revolution- 
ary men,  for  his  series  of  battle-pictures,  then  in 
progress.  In  addition  to  his  skill  as  an  artist,  he 
had  been  in  the  family  of  General  Washington  as 
an  aid,  and  was,  therefore,  well  acquainted  with 
his  features  and  person.  The  picture  was  painted 
from  life,  and  represents  General  Washington  in 
his  military  garb,  as  commander-in-chief,  and,  as 
such,  is  an  invaluable  portrait.  It  bears  date  1791. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  be  able  to  record,  as 
being  now,  perhaps,  its  only  repository,  certain 
cotemporary  testimony,  of  the  resemblance  it  bore 
to  its  illustrious  subject. 

A  gentleman  from  Charleston,  who  was  in  Phila- 
delphia while  the  portrait  was  in  progress,  told 
me  that  Colonel  Trumbull,  anxious  for  its  success, 
requested  him  to  call  often  and  see  it,  which  he 
did,  and  he  assured  me  that  the  likeness  was  ex- 
cellent ;  and  this  was  afterwards  confirmed  to  me 
by  one  who  was  then  our  representative  in  Con- 
gress, and  who,  as  well  as  the  other  gentleman, 


20  MY   REMINISCENCES   OP   CHARLESTON. 

,  had  frequent  opportunities  of  seeing  General 
Washington.  A  venerable ,  lady,  the  relict  of  a 
revolutionary  officer,  told  me  that  she  also  could 
fully  verify,  from  her  own  individual  knowledge, 
all  that  these  gentlemen  had  said  of  the  likeness. 

After  this  period,  age  and  increasing  cares 
altered  the  General's  appearance,  besides,  the  use 
of  false  teeth ;  so  that  when  Mr.  Stuart  painted 
him  in  1794,  in  his  Presidential  suit  of  black  vel- 
vet, and  with  powdered  hair,  he  looked  like  a 
different  person.  Still  it  is  universally  allowed 
that  Mr.  Stuart's  portrait  was  a  striking  likeness, 
and  it  will,  in  all  probability,  be  the  picture  to 
transmit  his  features  to  posterity. 

Before  I  dismiss  the  subject  of  General  Wash- 
ington's visit,  I  cannot  but  notice  his  discernment 
of  the  Southern  character,  as  correct  to-day  as  it 
was  then.  For,  in  a  letter  to  Gouverneur  Morris; 
shortly  after  his  return,  he  remarks,  "  that  two  or 
three  years  of  good  crops,  and  a  ready  market  for 
the  produce  of  their  lands,  have  put  every  one  in 
good  humour." 

The  opening  of  the  theatre,  in  January,  1793, 
was  quite  an  event  in  the  history  of  Charleston. 
Theatricals  had  been  so  long  discontinued  here, 
that  the  rising  generation  were  strangers  to  the 
fascinations  of  the  stage  ;  and  I  can  never  forget 
the  delight  which  this  new  amusement  produced 

t. 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  21 

in  all  classes  of  our  community.  The  box  office 
was  thronged  of  a  morning,  and  on  the  evening 
of  representation,  the  doors  of  the  Theatre  were 
besieged  by  crowds  long  before  the  hour  of  open- 
ing them.  The  stage  was  the  general  subject  of 
conversation;  and,  so  enchanting  was  its  influ- 
ence, that  tfte  ladies  were  heard  to  say  that  they 
could  live  in  the  theatre. 

These  remarks  have  led  me  wide  of  the  plan  I 
had  proposed.  But  I  will  now  endeavour  to  pro- 
ceed with  some  little  regard  to  order,  and  will, 
therefore,  commence  with  localities.  I  date  my 
earliest  recollections  of  Charleston  from  about  the 
year  1792  ;  at  which  time  it  was  completely  sur- 
rounded with  remains  of  its  old  revolutionary 
fortifications.  Boundary-street  was  then  but  a 
nominal  limit  of  the  city,  for  its  habitable  portion 
fell  far  short  of  that-  The  recollection  of  it,  at 
that  time,  reminds  me  of  what  is  said  of  Jerusa- 
lem, when  Nehemiah  returned  to  it  from  Babylon : 
"  Now  the  city  was  large  and  great,  but  the  people 
were  few  therein,  and  the  houses  were  not  build- 
ed."  I  was  at  that  time  a  pupil  in  the  Charleston 
College,  which  was  kept  in  one  of  the  old  brick 
barracks,  that  had  been  fitted  up  for  its  accommo- 
dation, and  which,  with  the  corresponding  one 
parallel  to  it,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards 
to  the  west,  were  almost  insulated  buildings. 


22  MY   REMINISCENCES   OP   CHARLESTON, 

This  latter  was  taken  down  about  the  same  time, 
for  I  remember  the  helping  hand  which  the  boys 
gave  at  the  ropes. 

We  had  quite  a  domain  to  the  north  and  west 
for  a  campus,  or  play  ground,  and  it  was  not  an 
uncommon  amusement  for  us  to  dig  musket  balls 
out  of  the  old  ramparts.  We  were  also,  occa- 
sionally, entertained  with  an  execution,  for  that 
neighbourhood  was  the  Tyburn  of  Charleston; 
and  I  remember  once  seeing  one  of  the  gentler 
sex  step  gracefully  from  the  scaffold  into  the  air. 
Hanging  was  much  more  frequent  then  that  it  is 
now,.  The  entire  square,  on  which  the  parsonage 
of  St.  Philips  then  stood  and  now  stands,  was 
vacant,  with  the  exception  of  one  or  two  build- 
ings. I  remember,  also,  two  large  brick  pillars, 
which  stood  in  King-street,  between  George  and 
Liberty,  the  history  of  which  I  do  not  know,  but 
remember  they  were  called  the  town  gates. 

That  entire  square,  bounding  south  on  Liberty- 
street,  and  west  on  St.  Philips,  was,  with  the 
exception  of  one  or  two  small  buildings,  entirely 
vacant.  This  I  remember  well,  for  I  saw  the 
battalion  of  artillery  parade  upon  it,'  and  fire  a 
salute  upon  the  occasion  of  receiving  a  new  stan- 
dard. One  of  the  soldiers,  who  was  injured  by 
the  explosion  of  a  cartridge,  was  carried  into  old 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OP  CHARLESTON.  23 

Mr.  Primrose's  house,  which  now  stands  in  St. 
Philips-street,  or  did  lately. 

When  the  corner-stone  of  the  Orphan  House 
was  laid,  in  1792,  the  college  boys  were  made  to 
form  a  procession ;  on  which  occasion,  as  one  of 
them,  I  remember  that  the  Rev.  I)r.  Smith,  our 
principal,  pronounced  an  address.  Mr.  John  Hu- 
ger,  our  then  Intendant,  a  tried  patriot  of,  the 
revolution,  as  indeed  both  these  gentlemen  were, 
stood  at  his  side.  It  was  truly,  with  all  its  asso- 
ciations, a  most  interesting  spectacle ;  %r  they 
were  both  standing  on  the  declivity  of  the  old 
ramparts. 

I  remember  to  have  been  shown,  many  years 
ago,  (1806)  a  beautiful  clump  of  trees,  at  Green- 
wich, in  the  neighbourhood  of  New  York,  which 
had  sprung  up  from  the  fascines  planted  there  by 
the  British  troops,  when  they  were  in  possession 
of  the  Island.  These  the  venerable  owner,  Bishop 
Moore,  called  the  triumph  of  peace  over  war.  But 
here  was  a  nobler  triumph  of  peace — charity  lev- 
elling the  battlements  of  war,  to  lay  the  founda- 
tion of  am  asylum  that  was  to  foster  and  protect 
the  destitute  orphan  in  times  to  come. 

Since  the  period  last  referred  to,  to  the  present, 
I  know  of  no  surer  indication  of  the  advancement 
of  Charleston,  than  the  increase  of  its  population, 
and  the  filling  up  of  its  vacant  ground  with  sub- 


.«, 


24  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

stantial  houses.  Although  all  may  not  have  been 
realized  that  was  to  be  expected  from  its  advanta- 
ges of  position,  yet  it  is  to  be  remembered  that 
its  capital  had  many  claims  to  answer.  Land  was 
to  be  recovered  and  improved,  buildin-gs  to  be 
erected,  the  planting  means  of  a  great  portion  of 
its  inhabitants  to  be  enlarged  by  heavy  purchases, 
and  civil  institutions,  necessary  to  our  social  credit 
and  comfort,  to  be  established  and  provided  for. 
It  has  been  already  said  that  Boundary-street  was 
a  nominal  limit — I  may  go  further,  and  say  that  I 
scarcely  remember  a  house  to  the  north  of  it, 
excepting,  perhaps,  the  Inspection  buildings,  the 
neighbourhood  of  which  was  a  general  parade 
ground  for  our  militia.  And  I  may  here  add, 
that  I  have  lately  seen  in  the  paper  of  the  23d 
February,  1797,  that  on  the  day  previous  (Wash- 
ington's birth-day)  "  the  two  regiments  of  the  city, 
together  with  the  battalion  of  artillery,  had  been 
reviewed  by  Gen.  W.  Washington,  near  the  T6- 
bacco  Inspection." 

That  extensive  portion  of  the  city,  northwest 
and  west  of  Coming-street,  now  so  handsomely 
improved,  was  then,  in  a  great  measure,  unoccu- 
pied, and  penetrated  by  creeks  and  marshes ;  and 
there  was  nothing  to  interrupt  the  view  of  the 
College  building  from  Cannon's  bridge,  where  the 
boys  used  to  bathe. 


MT    REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  25 

Some  idea  may  be  had  of  the  advancement  of  our 
city  from  the  fact  that  in  the  year  1807  there  were 

In  Broad-street, 147  houses. 

In  Church-street, Ill       " 

East  Bay-street, 219     -  " 

King-street, ...294-      " 

Meeting-street,,  , .-. . 226       " 

Queen-street, 138       " 

St.  Philips-street, 28       " 

Boundary-street, 40       " 

There  was  a  word  then,  and  for  some  years 
afterwards,  known  in  our  topography,  now  no 
longer  used,  to  wit:  a  green— to  denote  large, 
vacant  spaces  along  the  margin  of  the  town.  The 
College  green  we  have  already  mentioned.  There 
was  Bouquet's  green,  immediately  in  front  of  the 
house  lately  occupied  by  John  Hume,  J£sq.,  and 
extending  to  the  west  and  south-west  to  tide  wa- 
ter ;  Harlestoris  green,  extending  north  of  it  to  a 
considerable  distance;  then  a  large  space  imme- 
diately west  of  the  Poor-house  square,  used  as  a 
negro  burial  ground,  where  the  old  magazine 
stood,  to  which  the  present  Magazine-street  led 
directly.1.. 

"I  must  not  omit  to  mention  Gfadsderi's  green, 

which  was  a  large  vacant  space  surrounding  the 

residence  of  General  Gadsden,   a  small  wooden 

house,  with  a  portico  in  front,  which  used  to  be 

4 


26  MY    REMINISCENCES    OF    CHARLESTON. 

the  favourite  seat  of  its  venerable  owner  in  sum- 
mer. This  house  was  built,  it  is  said,  by  Lord 
Anson,  who  occupied  it  as  long  as  he  lived.  It 
.  is  now  the  site  of  a  large  three-story  brick  house, 
facing  south  on  a  street  leading  from  East  Bay 
continued,:  eastwardly.  It  was  in  the  centre  of  a 
farm  occupied  by  Lord  Anson,  from  whom  that 
part  of  our  city  called  Ansonborough  derived  its 
name.  When  General  G.  purchased  it,  he  under- 
took to  reclaim. the  marsh  on  Cooper  River,  for 
ihe  purpose  of  extending  the  farm.,  which,  so  far 
as  it  was  reclaimed,  was  afterwards  partly  known 
as  Gadsden's  wharf.  * 

The  building*  now  used  as  a  work-house,  was 
the  district  Jail  (the  present  one  not  being  then 
built).  All  the  land,  therefore,  west  of  the  work- 
house (excepting  said  magazine)  was  vacant  down 
to  the  marsh.  There  was  Savage's  green  at  the 
lower  end  of  Broad-street,  which,  until  the  build- 
ing of  the  old  Theatre,  was  entirely  vacant,  and 
spacious  enough  to  be  used  for  military  exercise. 
The  old  battalion  often  paraded  and  fired  their 
pieces  there.  That  green  was  separated  from  the 
lots  on  Tradd-street  by  a  marsh  which  ran  through 
the  present  site  of  Logan-street,  nearly  up  to  the 
corner  of  Friend  and  Broad-streets.  Nor  was 

*The  building  here  referred  to  has  been  since  taken  down,  and  a 
stately  edifice  erected  in  its  place  as  a  work-house. 


MY    REMINISCENCES    OF    CHARLESTON.  27 

there  a  building  on  the  south  of  Broad-street, 
excepting  one  at  the  corner,  where  Mr.  Petigru's 
mansion  now  stands,  corner  of  Broad  and  Friend- 
streets.  There  was  also  a  green  at  the  lower  end 
of  Broad-street,  covering  the  present  site  of  Mr. 
Trapman's  lot,  and  a  part  of  Mrs.  Khone's  garden. 
The  first  circus  we  ever  had  in  Charleston  was 
put  up  there  by  a  rider,  named  Toole.  I  remem- 
ber, when  quite  a  boyf  being  carried  to  see  'the 
performance.  Ferguson's  greea  was  at  .the  lower 
end  of  Tradd-street,  immediately  west  of  the 
mansion  now  owne,d  and  occupied  by  .Mrs.-  Frede-' 
rick  Rutl'edge.  Then  there  was  Federal  green,  a 
large  vacant  lot  on  the.  north-east  part  of  the 
tow.n,  adjoining  Colonel  Laurens's  -garden — which 
garden  Occupied  the  entire  square  enclosed'  by 
the  Bay,  .Society-  and  Anson-streets..  The  only 
existing  memorial  of  they  locality  of  Federal  green 
is  WaU-stre'et,  as. I  remember  a  brick  wall  that  ran 
along  one  of.  the  sides  of  it, "  from  which  it,  no 
doubt,  took  its  name,  as  College  and  Green-streets 
are  now  the -only  memorial  of  our,  old  College 
green.  *  -  . 

•  There  was  another  vacant  lot  or  green,  on  the 
south  side  of  Tradd-street;'  extending  from  -the 
premises  immediately  opposite  Logan-street  to  the 
corner  of  Legare-streel.  It  was  said  to  have  been 
used,  after  the  surrender  of  Charleston,  as  a  parade 


28  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON. 

ground  for  the  Hessians.  I  first  remember  it  as 
Squibb's  garden,*  and,  afterwards,  in  1794,  as  the 
site  of  Rickett's  circus,  f  It  then  became  built 
upon. 

Logan's  garden  also  occupied  a  large  space  of 
ground  on  the  north  of  Tradd-street,  including  a 
portion  of  what  is  now  called  Logan-street.  I 
remember  when  there  was  not  a  building  either 
west  or  north-west  of  that  space  down  to  the 
marsh.  Logan-street  was  opened  (1803)  exactly 
fifty  years  ago. 

We  will  now  speak  of  another  feature  in  the 
localities  of  Charleston — the  creeks  and  marshes 
that  penetrated  it.  I  remember  the  Governor's 
bridge,  a  wide  brick  arch  thrown  across  a  creek, 
into  which  the  .tide  flowed,  from  where  the  fish 
market  now  stands  nearly  up  to  Meeting-street, 
and  covering  almost  the  whole  extent  of  our  pre- 
sent market.  (This  creek  was,  according  to  the 
plans  and  maps  of  Charleston  now  exhibited  to 
you,  the  northern  boundary  of  the  town  as  late  as 
1711.)  When  the  tide  was  up,  communication 
was  cut  off  in  Church-street  to  the  opposite  side, 
where  the  old  orphan-house  stood — a  large  brick 
building,  afterwards  destroyed  by  fire. 

A  merchant  of  that  day  informed  me  afterwards, 

*The  author  of  the  Gardener's  Calendar,  now  in  common  use. 
tRickett's  circus,  opened  18th  December,  1793. 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON.  29 

that  he  had  once  received  a  raft  of  timber  in 
Church-street,  which  had  been  floated  through  the 
arch  of  the  Governor's  bridge. 

Near  the  margin  of  that  creek,  and  to  the  south 
of  it,  stood  the  old  wooden  barracks ;  which,  from 
memory,  I  would  locate  near  the  intersection  of 
State  and  Linguard-streets.  These  barracks  were 
provincial,  and,  doubtless,  the  same  mentioned  in 
the  A.  A.  of  1768,  as  being  near  the  powder  maga- 
zine, and  the  ancient  burial  ground  or  cemetery  of 
St.  Philip's  Parish.  (That  magazine,  an  octagonal 
building,  is  still  standing  in  Cumberland-street,  on 
a  lot  bounding  south  of  St.  Philip's  church  yard.) 
i  Having  thus  incidentally  mentioned  that  maga- 
zine, it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  relate  a  few 
anecdotes  connected  with  it.  An  act  was  passed 
in  1770,  directing  the  disuse  of  it.  But,  the  war 
coming  on,  it  was  continued  to  be  used  until  the 
year  1780,  when  the  town  was  closely  invested  by 
the  British.  G.en.  Moultrie  informs  us  that  a  thir- 
teen inch  shell  fell  and  burst  within  ten  yards  of 
it.  The  powder  was  then  removed  to  a  place  of 
safety,  and  the  building  afterwards  became  private 
property. 

There  were  two  fine  pictures  left  in  it,  which, 
no  doubt,  had  been  removed  from  the  hall  of  the 
Assembly,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  revolution, 
as  being  symbols  of  royal  authority.  They  were 


30  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON. 

the  whole  length  portraits  of  George  I.  and  his 
queen,  in  their  robes  of  majesty.  I  first  saw  them 
about  the  year  1800,  leaning  face  to  face  against 
the  wall,  with  an  old  coach  wheel  pressing  on 
them,  and  covered  with  dust.  My  recollection  of 
them  is,  that  they  were  admirable  paintings,  and, 
no  doubt,  the  work  of  Sir  Godfrey  Kneller.  I 
went  there  again,  some  years  afterwards,  with  per- 
mission, to  see  them,  and  in  the  hope  of  restoring 
them ;  but  some  base  trespasser  had,  in  the  mean- 
time, cut  the  canvass  out  of  the  frames,  and  no 
trace  has  been  ever  had  of  them  since. 

We  will  now  return,  from  this  digression,  to  our 
subject.  There  was  another  creek,  through  which 
the  tide  rari  some  distance  into  Water-street.-  I 
have  often,  when  a  boy,  swum  through  a  brick 

flood-gate  next  to  where  Mr.  D.  R 1's  house 

now  stands.  The  low  ground,  which  yet  remains 
in  that  neighbourhood  to  be  filled  up,  indicates  itg 
locality.  This  flood-gate  had,  no  doubt,  "keen 
placed  there  to  prevent  the  encroachments  of  the 
sea,  and.  give  safety  to  the  fishing  boats,  which  I 
remember  seeing  there  in  great  numbers. 

The  improvement  of  East  Bay,  .extends  as  far 
back  as  the  act  of  A.  1785,  .empowering  the  City 
Council  to  continue  East  Bay  to  the  extremity  of 
White  Point.  •  The.  Work  .was :  commenced  about 
the  year  1797  or  1798,  by  hog  pens  of  palmetto, 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  31 

9. 

filled  with  stone,  which  yielded  to  the  first  autum- 
nal gale.  It  was  resumed,  and  had  advanced 
considerably,  when  the  gale  of  the  night  of  the 
4th  October,  1800,  nearly  demolished  it.  (See 
journals  of  that  date.)  But  the  hurricane  of 
September,  1804,  completely  destroyed  it.  I  can 
never  forget  the  sublime  exhibition  the  spray  pre- 
sented, whilst  the  waves  were  carrying  on  their 
work  of  destruction.  The  sea  on  that  occasion 
flowed  through  Water-street  into  Meeting,  and  in 
Meeting  near  to  the  Scotch  church.  The  project 
of  rebuilding  it  with  stone  was  considered  im- 
practicable, but  by  the  judgment  and  perseverance 
of  an  enterprising  gentleman,  (W.  Crafts,  Sr.)was 
adopted  and  pursued  with  entire  success. 

In  this  endeavour  to  describe  the  localities  of 
Charleston,  within  the  period  of  my  recollection, 
I  must  depend  upon  your  knowledge  and  observa- 
tion, to  realize  the  contrast  exhibited  in  its  present 
improved  and  happy  condition.  To  me  that  con- 
trast is  very  striking.  If  I  have  been  minute  in 
describing  its  former  appearance,  and  placing 
before  you  its  topographical  aspect,  it  is  in  order 
to  convey  the  same  impression  to  your  minds. 
You  see  how  much  of  the  land  we  walk  upon  has 
been  made — how  all  the  vacant  places  we  have 
described,  have  been  filled  up  with  buildings  and 
population — how- 'the  inroads  of  the  sea  have  been 


32  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

arrested  on  our  borders,  and  how  different  the 
course"  of  business  formerly  was  from  what  it  is 
now. 

To  illustrate  my  idea,  I  need  only  refer  you  to 
the  present  condition  of  East  Bay.  You  see  its 
wharves  running  out  almost  to  the  channel  of 
Cooper  river,  and  covered  with  extensive  brick 
stores.  You  will  ride  through  it  at  night  with 
comfort,  for  it  is  paved  and  lighted  with  gas. 
Now  you  are  not  particularly  struck  with  the 
exhibition  they  furnish  of  our  advancement,  be- 
cause these  improvements  have  been  gradual,  and 
you  may  be  said  to  have  grown  up  with  them. 
But  if  you  could  remember  the  time  when  there 
were  but  a  few  stores  or  buildings  of  any  kind,  to 
the  east  of  East  Bay-street,  and  when  that  space 
was  often,  in  winter,  an  ocean  of  mire  covered 
with  wrecks  of  drays  and  carts — if  you  could 
remember  vessels  at  anchor  in  the  stream,  that  is 
now  occupied  by  projecting  wharves — if  you  had 
seen  building  after  building  rising  up  to  shut  out 
the  prospect  of  the  ocean — you  could  scarcely 
realize  the  contrast  exhibited  to  your  imagination. 
So  great  to  me  is  the  change,  that  I  am  almost 
compelled  to  say  with  the  Preacher,  "there  is  no 
remembrance  of  former  things." 

The  firstr  market  that  I  remember,  was  a  small 
low  wooden  building,  at  the  lower  end  of  Tradd- 


MY   REMINISCENCES  OF   CHARLESTON.  33 

street,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Bay.  It  was  after- 
wards taken  down,  and  a  brick  one  erected, 
opposite  to  Queen-street,  where  the  Yendue  Range 
now  is.  After  a  few  years  occupation,  that  was 
abandoned  and  the  site  of  the  present  market  per- 
manently adopted  in  1807.  There  was  also,  in 
1807,  a  market  on  South  Bay,  nearly  opposite  to 
Legare-street,  the  Commissioners  of  which  were 
John  Ashe,  John  Blake,  Peter  Smith,  factor,  and 
Peter  Smith,  planter.  The  old  beef  market  stood 
precisely  where  the  City  Hall  now  is.  It  was  a 
neat  building,  supported  by  brick  arches,  and 
surmounted  by  a  belfry.  This  I  saw  burnt  down 
in  the  great  fire  of  June,  1796.  It  was  the  point 
where  the  flames  were  arrested.  The  ground  it 
occupied  was  afterwards  purchased  by  the  old 
United  States  Bank,  which  >  erected  the  present 
building,  the  City  Hall  of  Charleston,  for  its  branch 
in  this  city.  It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  men- 
tion here  a  few  recollections  of  that  terrible 
conflagration.  It  commenced  in  the  afternoon  in 
Lodge  alley  near  the  Bay,  somewhere  to  the  east 
or  northeast  of  St.  Philip's  Church,  from  which 
quarter  the  wind  blew.  In  its  progress  it  would 
have  destroyed  that  venerable  building  but  for  the 
heroic  intrepidity  of  a  negro,  who,  at  the  risk  of 
his  life,  climbed  to  the  very  summit  of  the  belfry, 
and  tore  off  the  burning  shingles.  It  burnt 
5 


34  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

the  original  French  church,  where  the  Huguenot 
refugees  had  worshipped  for  upwards  of  a  century 
previous  to  that  time.  But  the  most  memorable 
building  destroyed  by  it,  was  the  old  City  Tavern, 
which  stood  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Church  and 
Broad-streets,  noted  in  our  social  and  political 
annals,  as  having  given  its  name  to  the  old  Corner 
Club,  where  the  forefathers  of  so  many  of  the 
present  generation  used  to  meet  of  an  evening,  to 
smoke  their  pipes,  and  talk  over  the  topics  of  the 
day ;  and  who  had,  in  their  former  meetings,  under 
the  name  of  the  Ttvo  Bitt  Club,  originated  the 
plan  of  the  South- Carolina  Society.  This  building 
was  memorable  also  for  having  been  the  place  of 
public  meetings  of  the  people  of  Charleston,  on 
the  breaking  out  of  the  American  troubles.  It  is 
mentioned  in  the  memoirs  of  William  H.  Drayton, 
as  early  as  1774,  and  G-en.  Moultrie,  in  his  history, 
emphatically  calls  it  "  The  Corner." 

Strangers,  visiting  our  city,  are  even  now  struck 
with  the  ancient  hue  and  style  of  its  buildings,  and 
often  compare  it  to  an  old  town  in  France  or  Eng- 
land; But  I  remember  when  it  had  the  appearance 
of  much  greater  antiquity  than  it'  now  presents. 
For  instance,  of  all  the  churches  in  Charleston,  from 
the  earliest  period  of  my  recollection  to  the  present 
day,  there  are  but  two  standing — St.  Michael's, 
and  Dr.  Oilman's***  in  Archdale-street.  Upon  the 

*Since  the  above  was  written,  this  has  undergone  an  entire  renovation. 


MY   REMINISCENCES  OF   CHARLESTON.  35 

tower  of  the  latter,  history  had  set  a  mark,  which 
has  been  unfortunately  obliterated.  For,  when 
Charleston  was  a  British  garrison,  a  building  in 
which  powder  was  stored,  in  its  vicinity,  (viz.  at 
the  corner  of  Mazyck  and  Magazine-streets,)  ex- 
ploded, and  a  fragment  striking  the  northwest 
angle  of  the  tower,  knocked  out  a  part  of  it.  The 
mark  remained  there  until  within  a  few  years, 
when  it  was  repaired.  "Whatever  there  is  now  of 
modern  appearance  in  our  buildings,  is  chiefly 
owing  to  the  desolating  fires  that  have  so  often 
Visited  our  city.  And,  I  would  here  remark,  that, 
for  a  very  long  time,  all  our  best  buildings,  public 
or  private,  were  of  provincial  date.* 

You  may  have  all  heard,  but  few  can  remember, 
that  the  statue  of  Lord  Chatham,  now  in  the  Orphan 
house  yard,  formerly  stood  at  the  intersection  of 
Broad  and  Meeting-streets,  surrounded  with  an 
iron  railing.  But  as  it  obstructed  the  free  use  of 
those  streets,  it  was  resolved  to  have  it  taken 
down.  This  was  done  in  I794,f  when  Sansculot- 
tes and  their  principles  had  great  ascendency  in 
Charleston — when  the  tri-coloured  cockade  of 
France  was  the  great  badge  of  honour,  and  Cd'ira 
and  the  Marseilloise  hymn  the  most  popular  airs — 

*The  only  two  that  remain  (public)  are  St.  Michel's  Church  and  the 
Custom  House,  although  the  latter  has  undergone  great  alterations. 

tBy  referring  to  papers  of  that  date,  I  find  I  am  correct ;  its  removal 
was  mentioned  in  the  State  Gazette,  March  14,  1794. 


36  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

and  "Vive  la  republique  Frangaise!"  the  uni- 
versal shout.  By  some  mismanagement  in  the 
tackling  for  removing  the  statue,  it  fell,  and  the 
head  was  broken  off.  The  day  following,  a  truc- 
culent  article  noticed  this  incident  in  one  of  our 
papers,  as  a  happy  prognostic  of  the  success  of  the 
guillotine — to  use  their  own  words,  "as  ominous 
to  the  aristocrats;"  the  term  then  generally  ap- 
plied to  all  Americans  who  were  opposed  to  French 
Jacobinism. 

As  this  statue  makes  a  prominent  figure  in  our 
local  history,  it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  men- 
tion a  few  facts  relating  to  it,  which  I  have 
gathered  from  old  newspapers.  Little  did  Caro- 
lina dream  of  the  great  results  of  the  contest  that 
awaited  her,  when,  at  the  very  threshold  of  it, 
she  thus  testified  her  admiration  of  the  great 
champion  of  the  rights  of  the  colonies.  Chat- 
ham's policy  was  magnanimous  and  conciliatory. 
But  had  it  prevailed,  it  would,  at  least,  have 
postponed  the  day  of  their  independence.  The 
spirit,  however,  that  prompted  this  tribute,  was  the 
same  that  conducted  them  triumphantly  through 
the  Revolution. 

The  first  mention  we  have  of  the  statue  appears 
in  May,  1766,  when  it  was  "resolved  by  the  Com- 
mons House  of  Assembly,  nem.  con.,  that  they 
would  make  provision  to  procure  from  England,  a 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  37 

marble  statue  of  the  Right  Hon.  William  Pitt,  for 
his  disinterested  and  generous  assistance  afforded 
them  towards  obtaining  a  Repeal  of  the  Stamp 
Act,"  the  intelligence  whereof  being  then  just 
received.  The  assembly  also  voted  in  the  tax  act 
of  that  year  £7000  for  the  purpose.  Wilton,  the 
King's  sculptor,  was  employed  to  execute  it.  He 
sent  out  two  designs  for  it ;  one  for  a  niche,  the 
other  for  a  separate  pedestal,  which  latter  was 
adopted.  These  original  drawings  having  been 
in  one  of  my  portfolios  for  upwards  of  fifty  years, 
I  have  lately  deposited  them  in  the  archives  of 
the  city,  where  I  think  them  more  suitably  placed. 
On  the  24th  May,  1770,  it  was  announced  in  the 
South  Carolina  Gazette,  that  on  the  morning  fol- 
lowing, at  eight  o'clock,  the  statue  would  be 
landed,  and  received  by  the  inhabitants,  and 
drawn  by  themselves  to  the  arsenal,  near  the  place 
where  it  was  intended  to  be  erected.  The  same 
paper  of  the  29th,  mentions  that  it  had  been 
landed  in  Charleston,  in  the  presence  of  a  vast 
concourse  of  inhabitants.  On  the  afternoon  of 
the  5th  July,  1770,  it  was  raised,  in  the  presence 
of  almost  the  whole  of  the  inhabitants,  and  of  the 
Speaker  and  many  "members  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  assembled  near  it  on  a  platform,  when 
the  Speaker  proclaimed  aloud  the  inscription  on 
the  base  of  the  statue.  The  artillery  company 


38  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

discharged  twenty-six  cannon,  and  the  bells  of 
St.  Michaels  rang.  The  day  closed  with  a  public 
entertainment,  at  which  it  is  said  forty-five  toasts 
were  drunk,  amongst  which  were  the  following 
names  of  the  prominent  men  of  the  day  :  James 
Otis ;  The  Pennsylvania  Farmer ;  Daniel  Dulany ; 
Christopher  Gadsden;  Thomas  Lynch;  John  Rut- 
ledge  ;  Hon.  George  Bryan ;  Hon.  Henry  Middle- 
ton;  Hon.  Peter  Manigault;  the  patriotic  mer- 
chants of  America ;  Hon.  Judge  Lowndes,  (who 
made  the  motion  for  the  statue) ;  Charles  Pinck- 
ney ;  Miles  Brewton ;  Mr.  John  Neufville,  Chair- 
man of  the  General  Committee  of  this  Province. 

This  statue,  raised  with  so  much  enthusiasm 
and  ceremony,  remained  upon  its  pedestal  only 
twenty-four  years,  when  it  was  removed  for  the 
reasons  before  mentioned,  its  right  arm  having 
been  shot  off  by  a  cannon  ball,  during  the  siege 
of  Charleston.  It  was  taken  down  on  the  14th 
March,  1794.  I  was  present  with  other  boys,  in 
the  crowd,  and  saw  it  when  it  fell  to  the  ground, 
through  the  mismanagement  of  those  employed 
to  remove  it.  The  City  Gazette  of  the  15th  March, 
1794,  mentions  that  in  pursuance  of  a  resolution 
of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  granting 
permission  to  the  City  Council  for  that  purpose, 
the  statue  was  taken  down,  the  iron  railing  having 
been  previously  removed.  It  has  since  been 
erected  in  the  Orphan  House  yard,  where  I  hope 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  39 

it  may  always  remain,  with  its  mutilated  arm,  as 
an  historical  memorial. 

The  period  to  which  we  now  refer,  exhibited  the 
most  extravagant  and  enthusiastic  sympathy  in 
behalf  of  the  French  revolution.  The  tri-colored 
cockade  was  generally  worn.  The  American  and 
French  colors  waved  together  at  public  entertain- 
ments. Civic  feasts  were  given  by  the  privateer- 
men,  and  patronized  by  some  of  our  most  distin- 
guished inhabitants,  who  did  not  hesitate,  when 
the  bonnet  rouge  was  circulated  round  the  table,  to 
put  it  on,  and  then  pass  it  to  their  neighbour.  The 
cognomen  of  citoyen  was  the  order  of  the  day. 
Their  cards  of  invitation  were  always  addressed 
to  citizen  such  a  one.  On  occasion  of  one  of  these 
civic  festivals,  given  by  citizen  Boutelle,  captain 
of  the  little  privateer  Sanspareille,  a  guinea  was 
placed  under  each  plate  as  a  pledge  of  fraternity. 
But  finding  that  this  offering  was  unpalatable  to 
his  guests,  on  the  next  occasion  he  changed  it  for 
a  play  ticket.  I  remember  the  privateermen  para- 
ding our  streets  with  long  sabres  at  their  sides, 
and  assuming  quite  an  ascendency  in  our  commu- 
nity. They  even  had  rendezvous  opened  in 
Charleston  for  volunteers,  which  the  Governor,  by 
an  order  of  April,  1793,  directed  to  be  closed. 
They  had  also  their  Jacobin  Clubs,  and  public 
gambling  houses. 


m 


40  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

Remembering  a  grand  civic  pageant  connected 
with  the  extravagances  of  that  day,  but  not  the 
occasion  of  it,  I  turned  to  an  old  file  of  the  City 
Gazette,  and  found  that  it  took  place  on  the  llth 
January,  1793,  in  honour  of  the  National  Assembly 
of  France ;  and  so  great  was  the  public  enthusi- 
asm, that  on  the  eve  of  that  day,  the  bells  of  St. 
Michaels  were  chimed,  and  a  salute  of  thirteen 
guns  fired  by  the  artillery.  The  same  honours 
were  repeated  on  the  morning  following,  and  in 
the  course  of  the  day,  a  procession  of  French  and 
American  citizens  paraded  the  streets  of  Charles- 
ton, headed  by  the  Governor,  the  Chief  Justice, 
Consul  Mangourit,  in  full  costume,  the  orator  of 
the  day,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Coste,  pastor  of  the  French 
Church,  the  Judges,  Chancellors,  Speaker,  and  all 
other  public  officers.  The  account  proceeds  to 
state,  that  in  passing  before  the  French  Protestant 
Church,  the  Consul,  as  an  expiation  for  the  perse- 
cutions of  Louis  XIV.  against  that  church,  halted 
the  procession,  took  off  his  hat  and  saluted  it  with 
the  national  colours.  On  arriving  at  St  Philip's 
Church,  the  place  appointed  for  the  religious 
ceremonies  of  the  day,  two  salutes  were  fired 
by  the  regiment  of  infantry,  an  animated  oration 
was  delivered  by  the  Rev  Mr.  Coste,  the  Te  Deum 
was  sung,  and  the  service  closed  by  the  Hymne  de 

'•:     '  '  •  V;  -    .  "     ' 


MY   REMINISCENCES  OF  CHARLESTON.  41 

Marseillois,  accompanied  with  the  organ.  In  the 
afternoon  a  grand  fete  was  given  at  William's 
Coffee-house,  prepared  for  two-hundred  and  fifty 
persons.  Two  sets  of  toasts,  French  and  English, 
were  drunk.  Amongst  those  in  French  I  will 
repeat  one,  which  was  to  the  venerable  General 
Gadsden ;  ' '  Course  .sous  le  poids  de  ses  Lauriers. " 
It  was  truly  a  day  of  fraternization,  and '  ended 
harmoniously. 

The  history  of  that  time  informs  us  of  the  effort 
of  our  Government  to  prevent  the  arming  and 
commissioning  of  French  privateers  in  our  har- 
bours, and  also  of  the  circular  addressed  to  the 
Executive  of  the  different  States  to  use  force,  if 
necessary,  in  maintaining  our  neutrality.  I  remem- 
ber this  being  nearly  carried  into  effect  in  our  own 
harbour — for  I 'saw  the  cannon  of  the  old  artillery 
stationed  on  Beale's  wharf,  to  prevent  the  sailing 
of  a  privateer,  which,  with  her  consort,  had 
threated  to  batter  the  city.  She  remained  in  the 
stream  an  entire  day,  and  then,  prudently,  changed 
her  purpose.  The  occasion  of  this  was  the  cap- 
ture of  a  vessel,  cleared  in  Charleston,  for  the 
West  Indies,  by  Edward  Penman,  an  English  mer- 
chant, before  she  had  left  the  waters  of  the  United 
States,  and  brought  back  as  a  prize.  One  of  the 
very  few  survivors  of  the  old  battalion  (Mr.  Charles 
6 


42  MY   REMINISCENCES  OF   CHARLESTON, 

Butler,*  silversmith,)  has  recently  told  me  that  he 
was  a  gunner  alongside  of  his  piece  the  whole 
night,  with  every  thing  ready  but  the  lighting  of 
their  matches ;  and  that  General  Pinckney,  then 
commanding  the  Wilitia,  was  on  the  ground  a 
great  part  of  the  night. 

The  14th  July,  the  anniversary  of  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Bastille,  was  celebrated  with  an  enthu- 
siasm more  befitting  the  observance  of  one  of  our 
own  national  festivals.  I  often,  in  his  maturer 
age,  laughed  with  a  friend,  at  his  prominent  posi- 
tion, as  an  orator  on  one  of  these  occasions,  when 
I  reminded  him  of  having  marched  in  procession 
through  Broad-street,  to  the  tune  of  Ca'ira.' 

The  Due  de  Liancourt,  in  his  published  travels, 
gives  a  curious  account  of  Charleston  at  this  peri- 
od. He  says  that  "the  principles  of  the  French 
demagogues  predominated  long  in  Charleston. 
For  several  years  a  Jacobin  Club  existed  in  this 
town,  of  which  Mr.  Harper,  at  present  a  violent 
federalist,  was  a  member.  The  French  Consul, 
Mangourit,  was  a  constant  member  of  this  club. 
But,  though  Consul  and  President  of  this  club,  he 
was  denounced  by  a  seaman  on  account  of  his 
uncivic  conduct,  and  was  obliged  to  submit  to  the 

*  Mr.  Muckenfuss,  also  a  survivor  of  that  corps,  remembers  the 
fact. 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  43 

humiliation  of  hearing  his  exclusion  proposed  by 
the  daring  seaman ;  which  motion  fell  to  the 
ground  through  the  eloquence  -of"  a  barber.  This 
daring  seaman  was,  no  doubt,  the  above  named 
Captain  Boutelle,  and  I  take  the  barber  to  have 
been  little  Mons.  Dubard." 

I  remember  a  little  French  hair-dresser,  named 
Dubard,  the  cotemporary  and  rival  of  our  good 
friend  of  soda  water  memory,  Mons.  Chupien. 
Dubard  was  a  violent  Sanscullotte,  and  went  to 
France  upon  a  short  visit,  at  the  height  of  the 
revolution,  to  feast  his  eyes  upon  the  sanguinary 
scenes  that  were  then  daily  enacted  there.  The 
guillotining  of  Marie  Antoinette  was  the  climax 
of  his  enjoyment;  and  he  returned  to  (Charleston 
full  of  the  interesting  theme,  and  used  to  enter- 
tain his  customers  with  it,  whilst  sitting  under  the 
operation  of  his  frizzing  and  his  powder  puff,  for 
every  body  (both  ladies  and  gentlemen)  were 
powdered  in  those  days,  and  never  ventured  into 
company  without  a  grand  coiffure. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  reproachful  excesses 
into  which  the  citizens  of  Charleston  allowed 
themselves  to  be  betrayed  by  their  sympathies 
for  the  French  republic,  and  their  fraternization 
with  French  privateersmen,  there  are  still  some 
circumstances  to  brighten  the  recollection  of  that 
period,  and  to  redeem  the  character  of  our  city. 


44  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON. 

The  awful  tragedy  of  St.  Domingo,  as  is  well 
known,  threw  upon  our  shores  a  crowd  of  misera- 
ble and  destitute  French,  with  every  claim  that 
humanity  could  recognize  to  commiseration  and 
relief.  These  claims  were  promptly  and  honoura- 
bly answered  by  the  people  of  Charleston.  All 
who  could  afford  to  shelter  them,  admitted  them 
into  their  families ;  whilst  all  who  could  not  do 
that,  relieved  them  otherwise  readily  and  cheer- 
fully, to  the  very  extent  of  their  means.  And  it 
is  a  recollection,  personally  gratifying  to  myself, 
that  I  was  employed,  then  a  boy,  upon  errands  of 
charity  to  those  unfortunate  beings. 

The  great  increase  of  French  population  in 
Charleston,  and  their  national  fondness  for  theatri- 
cal amusements,  led  to  the  establishment  of  a 
French  theatre,  which  was  opened  on  the  12th 
April,  1794,  with  a  good  company  of  comedians, 
pantomimists,  rope  dancers,  etc.  My  liveliest 
recollection  of  it  is  the  frantic  enthusiasm  with 
which  the  privateermen  used  to  acompany  the 
orchestra,  when  playing  the  "  Marseillois"  or 
Cdira.  It  continued  popular  for  some  little  time 
and  then  fell  through,  for  want  of  encouragement. 
The  building  was  converted  into  a  public  hall  for 
concerts  and  dancing  assemblies,  and  the  St.  Ce- 
cilia patronized  it  as  long  as  they  continued  a 
musical  society. 


MY   REMINISCENCES, -OF   CHARLESTON.  45 

The  opposition  made  to  Jay's  treaty  throughout 
the  Uuion,  in  1795,  is  now  a  matter  of  history. 
But  I  remember  some  of  the  violent  proceedings 
that  took  place  on  that  occasion  in  Charleston,  and 
I  have  often  thought  that  the  violent  ebullition  of 
popular  hatred,  exhibited  on  that  occasion,  was 
not  without  its  benefit,  in  giving  vent  to  rankling 
recollections  of  the  injuries  and  oppressions  sus- 
tained by  every  class  of  the  community,  during 
the  revolutionary  struggle,  then  so  recently  termi- 
nated. The  excitement  was  tremendous.  Among 
other  manifestations  of  it,  was  a  gallows  erected 
in  front  of  the  Exchange,  in  Broad-street,  on 
which  were  suspended  six  effigies,  designed  to 
represent  the  prominent  advocates  of  Washing- 
ton's policy,  who  had  maintained  the  treaty,  and 
whose  names  are  now  recorded  with  honour  in  the 
history  of  our  country — John  Jay,  John  Adams, 
Timothy  Pickering  Jacob  Read,  and  William 
Laughton  Smith — who  had  warmly  advocated  in 
the  house  of  representatives,  the  appropriation 
necessary  for  carrying  the  treaty  into  effect.  The 
sixth  effigy  was  his  satanic  majesty.  They  re- 
mained the  whole  day,  polluted  by  every  mark  of 
indignity,  and,'  in  the  evening,  were  carried  off  to 
Federal  green,  where  they  were  burnt.  I  think 
it  was  on  that  occasion  that  General  Read's  house 
was  threatened  by  the  mob-,,  at  the  head  of  which 


46  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON. 

was  a  popular  leader  by  the  name  of  Mitchell, 
whom,  as  a  boy,  I  remember  seeing  at  the  guard 
house,  that  evening,  with  a  sword  in  his  hand.  The 
public  authorities  being  notified  of  it,  a  company 
of  volunteers  was  ordered  out  to  protect  the 
building,  which,  probably,  saved  it ;  for  the  com- 
manding officer  afterwards  informed  me  that  his 
orders  were  positive,  and  his  men  were  provided 
with  ball.  But  the  storm  passed  away.  The  policy 
and  the  firmness  of  Washington  prevailed.  The 
treaty  became  a  law — -the  nation  acquiesced  in  it, 
and  went  on  prospering. 

I  omit  saying  anything  that  your  knowledge  of 
the  history  of  that  day  will  supply.  But  it  is  well 
known  that  our  sister  republic  of  France  had,  by 
1797,  changed  her  conduct  so  entirely,  as  to  ren- 
der the  prospect  of  reconciliation  hopeless ;  and 
her  rejection  of  our  offers,  and  her  refusal  to 
accredit  our  ministers,  induced  our  government 
to  prepare  for  war.  At  this  crisis  the  citizens  of 
Charleston  came  forward  with  patriotic  energy  in 
support  of  the  honour  of  the  country.  A  meeting 
of  the  citizens  was  held,  May  1798,  in  St.  Michael's 
church,  which  I  remember,  for  I  was  present  at  it. 
The  resolutions  were  brought  forward  by  Chan- 
cellor DeSaussure,  then  Intendant  of  Charleston, 
and  discussed  with  no  other  feelings  than  that  of 


MY    REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  47 

rendering  them  as  expressive  as  possible  of  the 
unanimity  and  determination  of  our  citizens. 

Amongst  the  prominent  speakers  on  that  occa- 
sion, I  remember  Bishop  Smith  and  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Furman — in  whom  were  revived  all  that  ardour 
which  had  so  conspicuously  distinguished  them 
during  the  revolutionary  war.  Dr.  Furman  had 
served  his  country  in  her  councils — Dr.  Smith,  as 
General  Pinckney  informed  me,  was  chaplain  to 
the  brigade  to  which  he  belonged,  and  used  to 
preach  animating  and  patriotic  discourses  even 
whilst  the  enemy  was  before  the  town. 

The  result  of  this  meeting  was  the  adoption  of 
the  resolutions,  which  did  honour  to  the  occasion 
of  the  meeting,  and  a  subscription  to  raise  meang 
of  aiding  the  government  in  the  defence  of  Charles- 
ton. A  committee  of  fortification  was  appointed ; 
and,  on  that  occasion,  the  mechanics  of  Charleston 
came  forward  with  laudable  zeal  and  voluntarily 
contributed  their  personal  labours,  irr  the  erection 
of  Fort  Mechanic — so  called  in  honor  of  them- — 
which  stood  precisely  on  the  spot  where  Mr.. 
Holmes'  house,  on  the  battery,  is  now  placed. 

But  the  patriotism  of  Charleston  did  not  stop 
hera  A  meeting  of  the  citizens  was  held,  on  3d 
July,  1798,  for  opening  a  subscription  to  build  a 
frigate  of  thirty-two  guns.  A  committee  of  six 
merchants  was  appointed, ;  Mr.  Crafts,  (who  was 


. 
48  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

navy  agent)  Mr.  Gilchrist,  Mr.  Hazelhurst,  Mr. 
Russell,  and  others.  By  the  4th  August  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  were  subscribed.  From  this 
meeting  originated  the  John  Adams  frigate,  which 
I  remember  having  seen  on  the  stocks  before  she 
was  launched.  She  was  built  by  the  elder  Mr. 
Pritchard,  at  his  ship  yard,  near  to  Belvidere  town 
creek.  The  idea  of  building  a  frigate  in  Charleston 
had,  however,  been  entertained  as  long  before  as 
1794;  for  in  the  old  State  Gazette,  of  the  28th 
January  of  that  year,  there  is  an  advertisement 
mentioning  that  subscriptions,' for  that  purpose, 
would  be  received  at  the  counting-room  or  office 
of  Mr.  Thomas  Martin,  at  the  corner  of  Tradd- 
street  and  the  Bay.  The  building  of  the  John 
Adams  was  commenced  in  November,  1798,  and 
she  was  launched  June  5th,  1799,  by  Paul  Pritch- 
ard ;  Mr.  James  Marsh  was  his  foreman.  Paul 
Pritchard  was  the  brother  of  William  P.,  usually 
called  "Hobcaw.Bill." 

The  South- Carolina,  revenue  cutter,  was  built 
also  by  Mr.  Pritchard,  at  the  old  ship-yard,  and 
launched  in  November,  1798.  She  was  command- 
ed by  Captain  Paine.  The  brig  General  Pinckney 
was  built  in  Charleston,  at  the  foot  of  Pmckney- 
street,  by  "William  Pritcha,rd,  in  1798,  and  com- 
manded by  Captain  Heyward. 

Amongst  my  reminiscences  of  that  day,  was 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  49 

the  trial  of  Jonathan  Bobbins,  for  piracy  on  board 
of  a  British  frigate.  After  he  was  given  up  by 
Judge  Bee,  he  was  'delivered  over  to  a  military 
guard  of  United  States  soldiers,  from  Captain 
Kalteisen's  company  at  Fort  Johnson.  &&« 

It  is  well  known  that  Charleston  participated 
largely  in  the  bitter  contentions  of  the  two  great 
political  parties  which  grew  up  with  our  own 
government,  and  agitated  it  to  its  very  centre. 
The  popular  doctrines  of  Thomas  Jefferson  had 
found  nowhere  a  more  genial  soil  to  take  root, 
than  in  the  State  of  South-Carolina.  They  were 
cherished  here  with  enthusiasm.  And,  although 
the  federal  party  could  never  successfully  oppose 
their  prevailing  power  and  influence,  it  never 
departed  from  their  principles,  or  neglected  any 
proper  occasion  to  assert  them.  Now  that  the 
great  points  of  dispute  involved  in  the  political 
agitation  of  that  day,  are  only  known  as  part  of 
the  history  of  our  country,  we  can  reflect  dispas- 
sionately upon  them  as  furnishing  a  striking  com- 
mentary upon  our  institutions,  and  upon  the 
character  of  those  who  were  cotemporary  with 
them. 

In  comparing  the  state  of  parties  then  with 
what  it  is  now,  I  am  forcibly  reminded  of  a  con- 
versation between  two  eminent  individuals,  who 
had  in  their  whole  public  career  been  dpposed  to 
7 


50  MY    REMINISCENCES    OP    CHARLESTON. 

each  other.  It  was  in  1816,  just  after  the  close  of 
the  war  with  England.  They  were  speaking  of 
the  condition  and  propects  of  the  country,  grow- 
ing out  of  the  events  that  had  just  passed,  and 
mutually  regretted  that  one  of  their  necessary 
results  would  be  the  extinction  of  the  old  consti- 
tutional division  of  parties ;  for,  if  any  should 
afterwards  arise,  it  would  inevitably  be  sectional. 
If  we  are  told  that  the  poor  proscribed  Fede- 
ralists in  Charleston,  cut  off  as  they  were  from  all 
the  honours  and  emoluments  of  office,  were  in  the 
habit  of  meeting  together  weekly,  it  might  natu- 
rally be  supposed  that  it  was  for  the  purpose  of . 
interchanging  sympathies,  or  rehearsing  their 
"  Tristia"  But  not  so  with  the  Cossack  Club, 
which  grew  out  of  the  peculiar  condition  of -society 
at  that  time ;  for  a  happier  and  more  joyous  set 
never  met  together  to  discuss  a  good  dinner  and 
enjoy  a  glass  of  old  wine,  than  they  did  at  their 
Wednesday  meetings.  It  had  no  rules,  for  every 
member  was  a  law  to  himself,  and  that  law  was 
never  known  to  vary.  No  penalty,  for  there  was 
none  to  enforce  it.  No  duty  imposed  on  any  one 
but  to  contribute  to  the  very  extent  of  his  intelli- 
gence, whatever  might  promote  their  happy  and 
enlightened  intercourse,  and  to  pay  two  dollars 
for  his  dinner.  This  club  was  remarkable  for 
every  quality  that  had  ever  characterized  the  best 


HY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  51 

private  society  of  Charleston.  Many  of  those  who 
composed  it  had  stood  high  in  the  service  of  their 
country,  and  brought  to  the  common  stock  of 
conversation.,  their  varied  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence as  statesmen,  diplomatists,  soldiers  and  jurists. 
Nor  was  the  charm  of  literary  discourse  wanting 
to  give  interest  to  their  meetings.  General  Pinck- 
ney  was  a  constant  member,  and  always  ready  to 
impart  information,  particularly  to  the  younger 
members.  It  was  on  these  occasions  that  I  learned 
from  him  several  of  the  facts  and  anecdotes,  in 
connection  with  which  his  name  will  be  hereafter 
mentioned  in  the  course  of  these  remarks. 

It  may  now  be  expected  that  I  will  say  some- 
thing of  society  in  Charleston.  But  I  am  at  a  loss 
to  define  what  that  is — certainly  not  its  aggregate 
population— not  those  whose  diversified  employ- 
ments administer  to  its  wants  or  promote  its  com- 
forts— not  those  whose  success  in  any  trade  or 
business  have  raised  them  to  the  possession  of 
wealth,  and  elevated  them  only  in  their  own  esti- 
mation. I  consider  talents,  education,  morals, 
with  the  adventitious  advantages  of  fortune,  as 
forming  the  true  basis  of  social  distinction,  and 
constituting  that  class  which  may  be  emphatically 
called  the  society  of  any  place  or  city,  embracing, 
in  its  widest  extent,  the  virtue,  the  intelligence, 
the  accomplishments,  and  all  the  refinements  which 


52  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON. 

characterize  the  better  portions  of  the  female  sex, 
and  enhance  their  ameliorating  influence.  This 
is  society — and  Charleston  may  proudly  boast  of 
such  a  one. 

In  the  course  of  the  preceding  remarks,  I  re- 
ferred to  the  close  of  the  revolutionary  war,  and  I 
regard  it  a  privilege  to  have  lived  so  near  that 
period,  as  to  remember,  and  to  have  conversed 
with  men  who  were  equal  to  the  duties  that  that 
great  event  had  required  of  them,  and  who  were 
afterwards  distinguished  in  the  various  stations 
assigned  to  them,  in  laying  the  foundations  of  our 
social  and  political  system.  It  was  a  privilege  to 
have  heard,  from  their  own  lips,  events  spoken  of 
in  common  conversation,  in  which  they  had  been 
engaged  ;  before  they  were  embodied  in  the  pages 
of  history. 

Many  of  those  men  were  the  remnant  of  a  pecu- 
liar race  of  people.  Born  under  a  royal  govern- 
ment, and  early  impressed  with  those  exclusive 
feelings  which  rank  and  fortune  create,  they  were 
characterized  by  a  high  and  gentlemanly  bearing. 
Most  of  them  had  been  educated  in  one  or  other 
of  the  English  Universities,  and  had  become  fa- 
miliar with  the  highest  standard  of  manners  in 
that  country.  But  upon  the  breaking  out  of  the 
revolution,  they  flocked  home  to  share  the  for- 
tunes of  their  country.  Such  men  were,  in  their 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  53 

proper  element,  at  the  head  of  society— it  was 
theirs  to  maintain  and  transmit  the  ancient  charac- 
ter of  Charleston  for  intelligence,  refinement  and 
hospitality;  and  here  we  may  dwell  with  pride 
upon  the  uniform  testimony  (wherever  that  can 
be  collected)  of  all  travellers  and  writers  in  fa- 
vour of  those  qualities.  I  would  here  refer  to 
Mr.  Josiah  Quincy's  Journal  of  a  visit  to  this  city, 
in  1773,  and  to  the  Due  de  Liancourt,  who  was 
here  in  1796.  That  gentleman  says,  in  his  pub- 
lished travels,  "  whatever  praise  may  be  due  to 
our  European  gentility,  yet  in  no  part  of  the  globe 
is  so  much  hospitality  practiced  as  in  America,  or 
can  it  anywhere  be  better  exercised  than  in  South 
Carolina." 

The  revolution  had  no  sooner  passed  away  than 
we  find  these  very  gentlemen,  as  republicans,  en- 
gaged in  accommodating  our  laws  to  the  new 
order  of  things,  and  themselves  to  the  position  in 
which  it  placed  them.  One  of  their  first  measures 
was  to  abolish  the  rights  of  primogeniture,  so 
favourable  to  the  transmission  of  fortunes  in  fami- 
lies, and  so  fostering  to  family  pride.  But  the 
principles  of  our  government  demanded  it,  and 
they  were  ready  for  the  sacrifice.  Now,  I  have 
heard  it  often  repeated,  that  that  measure,  how- 
ever politically  necessary,  was  a  death-blow  to 
social  refinement — that  it  would  introduce  a  con- 


•  »* 

• 


. 

54  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

dition  of  equality  quite  unfavourable-  to  p'olite 
intercourse ;  and,  that  owing  to  the  particular 
constitution  of  society  here,  and  the  nature  of  our 
property,  estates  must  necessarily,  by  subdivision, 
be  dwindled  to  a  mere  nominal  patrimony.  This 
might  have  been  the  case,  had  things  been  destined 
to  remain  in  the  condition  they  were  then  in. 
But  the  gradual  development  of  resources,  then 
unanticipated — increase  of  population — new  ap- 
plications of  industry — new  staples  of  agriculture 
—wider  extension  of  commerce — the  diffusion  of 
knowledge,  and  the  establishment  of  the  means  of 
the  highest  education  in  our  own  State,  and  in  our 
own  city — have  shown  that  these  apprehensions 
were  vain,  and  that,  if  success,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, has  equalized  fortunes,  it  is  also  cal- 
culated to  elevate  their  possessors. 

It  was  my  lot  to  grow  up  with  that  law,  and  to 
be,  as  it  were,  upon  the  line  where  the  old  and 
new  order  of  things  met — yet  with  all  the  respect 
due  to  that  distinguished  class  of  men,  who  had 
enjoyed  the  benefit  of  primogeniture  in  South 
Carolina,  I  must,  in  candour,  say  that  I  am  not 
sensible  of  any  deterioration  in  the  manners  of 
society  that  I  can  attribute  to  its  abolition.  If 
some  little  rules  of  etiquette  have  become  obso- 
lete, if  society  is  a  little  less  artificial,  or  its  man- 
ners less  courteous  now  than  formerly,  there  are 


'.. 

'    '    •. '.    '".-•'.'.       '      "**  *' 

M.Y   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  55 

so  many  other  causes  directly  tending  to  such  a 
result,  that  we  can  only  wonder  that  they  have 
not  made  greater  inroads  upon  it. 

As  the  table  is,  and  always  has  been,  in  Charles- 
ton, a  great  centre  of  attraction,  and  remarkable 
for  the  display  of  that  courtesy  and  mutual  re- 
spect, without  which  it  could  never  be  a  bond  of 
enlightened  intercourse,  we  may  refer  to  it  as  a 
safe  criterion  for  our  judgment.  Notwithstanding 
all  my  recollections  of  the  past,  I  see  no  diminu- 
tion in  its  conversational  intelligence  and  refine- 
ment, or  in  any  of  those  social  qualities  for  which 
our  city  has  always  had  credit.  On  the  contrary, 
I  aver  that  there  is  a  marked  improvement.  The 
conversation  of  gentlemen,  at  the  table,  now  is 
without  the  least  blemish  of  freedom  or  impurity, 
which  was  not  always  the  ease ;  for  I  remember 
when  licentiousness  was  almost  the  fashion.  Wine 
is  enjoyed  in  greater  moderation  than  it  was  in 
that  glorious  day  of  bumpers  and  heeltaps,  and  the 
hour  of  separation  is  certainly  more  seasonable.- 

Our  lamented  friend,  Mr,  Legare,  somewhere, 
in  his  writings,  mentions  it  as  "  an  unquestionable 
fact  that  the  present  generation  are  in  every  re- 
spect socially  less  cultivated  than  our  glorious 
fathers"  In  this  I  think  Mr.  Legare  was  mista- 
ken ;  for,  although  the  cultivation  of  the  past  was 
truly  of  a  very  high  order,  yet  being  less  diffused 


56  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

than  that  of  the  present  day,  it  was,  therefore, 
more  conspicuous  in  those  who  possessed  it.  He 
forgot  that  manners  have  their  inheritance  as  well 
as  fortune.  The  law  defines  the  one,  but  example 
regulates  the  other ;  and,  as  far  as  my  observation 
goes,  good  breeding  is  a  transmissible  quality  in 
families,  and  quite  independent  of  powdered  hair, 
laced  ruffles,  and  diamond  buckles,  the  invariable 
appendages  of  an  old-time  gentleman.  Now  I  do 
not  hesitate  to  say  that  such  men  as  Mr.  Henry 
Deas,  Major  Wragg,  Stephen  Elliott,  John  Gads- 
den,  Thomas  Grimke  and  William  Washington,  all 
of  whom  are  included  in  Mr.  Legare's  category, 
would  have  done  credit  to  the  palmiest  days  of 
Carolina  society,  and  were,  in  every  respect,  wor- 
thy of  its  glorious  fathers. 

Manners  result  from  the  character  and  condition 
of  society,  like  vegetable  productions,  which  in- 
dicate the  soil  beneath.  Now,  conceding  all  that 
is  claimed  for  our  predecessors,  and  believing,  as 
I  do,  that  under  no  system  of  government,  how- 
ever republican,  or  no  form  of  social  arrangement, 
can  there  exist  anything  like  equality  of  condition ; 
yet  the  basis  upon  which  their  distinction  always 
rested  was  comparatively  a  narrow  one — intelli- 
gence and  cultivation  limited  to  a  few — fortunes 
equally  so,  and  family  pretensions  always  circum- 
scribed and  exclusive. 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  57 

In  these  remarks,  as  you  may  have  observed, 
the  word  excliiswe'has  been  more  than  once  used; 
but  not  inadvertently,  for  in  no  part  of  the  coun- 
try could  the  society  of  former  days  have  been 
more  so  than  in  Charleston.  And  it  continued  to 
have  that  characteristic,  until  the  republican  ten- 
dencies of  our  government  began  fully  to  manifest 
themselves.  The  merchant  had  not  that  position 
to  which  his  contribution  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
community  entitled  him,  and  which  is  now  so 
readily  and  justly  recognized.  And  such  was 
equally  the  case  in  regard  to  every  other  calling. 
For,  with  the  exception  of  the  learned  professions, 
no  pursuit  which  yielded  income,  from  personal 
effort  or  employment,  was  properly  respected. 
And  here  I  remember  that  this  state  of  things 
gave  rise  to  some  amusing  results ;  amongst  which 
were  social  combinations  and  clubs,  formed  by  the 
proscribed  merchants,  with  curious  names,  such  as 
the  "Free  and  Easy,"  "The  Kolf-Baan  Club," and 
the  "  Ugly  Club,"  which  last  was  often  a  source  of 
infinite  merriment  to  the  members,  as  the  ugliest 
man  was  always  selected  for  the  president.  They 
gave  an  annual  ball,  which  was  always  well  at- 
tended. Then  the  Masons  had  their  day  of  pomp 
and  glory,  where  all  social  distinctions  were 
merged  in  the  great  bond  of  brotherhood. 

Now,  the  philosophy  of  all  this  was  deep-seated 
8 


58  MY   REMINISCENCES   OP   CHARLESTON. 

and/  upon  mature  reflection,  I  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  could  not  have  been  otherwise. 

The  very  nature  of  that  property,  in  its  then 
undivided  state,  which  constituted  the  wealth  of 
Carolina,  was,  in  itself,  an  element  of  pride.  The 
planter  lived  in  baronial  independence  upon  his 
large  estates,  surrounded  by  dependents,  and  with 
every  means  of  luxurious  enjoyment.  His  asso- 
ciates were  his  equals,  and  he  looked  down,  as 
from  a  higher  platform,  upon  all  whose  circum- 
stances and  pursuits  differed  from  his  own.  The 
ruinous  remains  of  many  of  their  seats  and  man- 
sions scattered  throughout  the  neighbouring  Pa- 
rishes, are  melancholy  memorials  of  bye-gone  days. 
In  a  word,  the  difference  between  the  past  and 
the  present  is  this,  that  then  fortune  and  cultiva- 
tion could  alone  place  men  at  the  head  of  society  — 
men  place  themselves  there  now. 

But  all  this  has  passed  away,  and  whatever  of 
refinement  exists  in  our  society  now,  rests  upon  a 
broader  and  more  enduring  foundation.  Intelli- 
gence is  no  longer  confined  to  the  rich;  it  is 
within  the  means  of  every  class  ;  and  if  politeness 
be  a  Christian  refinement,  the  wide  and  increasing 
diffusion  of  religious  knowledge  will  contribute 
to  place  the  manners  of  society  upon  a  rational 
and  unartificial  basis,  and  impart  to  them  an  uni- 
form and  general  practice. 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  59 

The  love  of  music  was  an  early  characteristic  of 
the  people  of  Charleston,  and  very  generally  cul- 
tivated by  them  as  an  accomplishment.  Out  of 
this  grew  the  St.  Cecilia  Society,  originally  an 
association  of  gentlemen  amateurs,  who  met 
together  to  indulge  a  common  taste  and  to  pass 
an  agreeable  hour.  It  afterwards  increased  in 
numbers  and  resources.  On  its  roll  were  inscribed 
the  names  of  our  most  respectable  citizens ;  and 
amongst  its  officers  were  always  found  some  of  the 
first  men  even  of  the  State. 

It  was  long  celebrated  for  its  liberal  encourage- 
ment of  musical  talent ;  for  no  performer  of  any 
reputation  ever  came  to  Charleston  without  re- 
ceiving its  patronage.  Its  concerts  were  always 
well  attended,  and,  often,  even  crowded  by  the 
most  fashionable  company  of  Charleston.  Mr. 
Josiah  Quincy,  of  Boston,  who  was  here  in  1773, 
attended  one  of  them,  and  mentions  in  his  journal 
that  there  were  two  hundred  and  fifty  ladies  pre- 
sent; and  that  he  was  there  introduced  to  the 
Governor,  the  Chief  Justice,  two  associate  Judges, 
and  several  of  the  Council. 

For  many  years  the  Society  adhered  to  its  ori- 
ginal design ;  and  its  concerts  continued  to  be  the 
centre  of  delightful  attraction.  It,  however,  was 
not  incorporated  until  1784,  when  an  act  was 
passed  for  that  purpose ;  the  preamble  of  which 


60  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

mentions  that  the  Society  had,  by  voluntary  con- 
tribution, raised  a  considerable  fund,  placed  in 
bonds ;  and  had  also  collected  a  number  of  musi- 
cal instruments,  etc.,  for  encouraging  the  liberal 
science  of  music. 

My  earliest  recollection  of  the  concerts  was 
about  the  year  1803,  when  the  Society  was  in  very 
successful  action;  and  I  have  a  bill  of  the  per- 
formances at  one  given  in  November,  1815,  on 
which  I  find  the  names  of  Pleyel,  Haydn,  Mozart, 
and  Kromer,  all,  then,  as  they  now  are,  very 
favourite  composers. 

At  length  the  purposes  of  the  Society  seemed  to 
have  been  accomplished,  and  its  destinies  fulfilled. 
Change,  which  is  always  at  work,  was  silently 
preying  upon  its  prosperity.  As  the  old  members 
fell  off,  their  places  were  supplied  by  younger 
ones.  A  rival  Society  had  sprung  up.*  Musical 
entertainment  could  be  enjoyed  elsewhere — new 
tastes  were  formed — new  habits  came  into  fashion. 
The  love  of  dancing  increased.  At  length,  viz. 
in  February  7,  1819,  the  board  of  managers  re- 
ported that  they  had  found  it  impracticable  to 
procure  an  orchestra  for  the  Society,  and  therefore 
ordered  a  ball  to  be  given.  After  that,  one  more 
effort  was  made  to  obtain  performers,  when  the 
committee  reported  to  the  Society  that  they  could 

*The  old  Philharmonic  Society,  incorporated  in  1810. 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OP   CHARLESTON.  61 

only  procure  a  quintette.  Finally,  about  the  year 
1822,  the  concerts  were  given  up,  and  the  Society 
substituted  dancing  assemblies,  which  have  been 
regularly  continued,  every  season,  with  great  ele- 
gance. 

That  love  of  music,  of  which  I  have  spoken, 
was  often  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  charity.  It  may 
not  be  generally  known  that  the  Commissioners  of 
the  Orphan  House,  in  October,  1791,  put  forth  a 
special  advertisement  announcing  "a  grand  con- 
cert," to  be  given  on  the  20th  of  that  month,  to 
enable  them,  as  stated,  to  lay  the  foundation  of 
the  building  in  the  ensuing  spring ;  and,  that  they 
had  erected  a  commodious  amphitheatre  for  the 
occasion. 

Again,  in  January,  1794,  a  concert  was  adver- 
tised, under  very  respectable  patronage,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  sufferers  from  St.  Domingo.  If  the 
editors  of  that  day  had  been  as  alert  as  they 
are  now,  they  would  have  informed  us  of  the 
success  of  these  projects,  and  have  thus  given 
pleasing  proof  of  the  affinity  between  harmony 
and  charity. 

Prominent  in  our  early  recollections  of  Charles- 
ton, are  the  races,  the  most  absorbing  popular 
amusement  then  known  to  its  inhabitants. 

Whether  from  the  removal  of  those  calamities 
under  which  every  part  of  the  State  had  suffered 


62  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

for  so  many  years,  or  whether  from  the  personal 
interest  every  where  taken  by  our  wealthy  plant- 
ers in  the  raising  and  training  of  horses,  and  their 
ambition  for  distinction  in  the  production  of  those 
noble  animals,  the  races  were,  for  many  years  after 
the  peace,  a  very  different  thing  from  what  they 
now  are.  They  made  Charleston  the  great  centre 
for  all  who  could  afford  to  travel,  even  from  dis- 
tant parts  of  the  State.  The  enthusiasm  produced 
by  their  recurrence,  pervaded  all  classes  of  the 
community  to  such  a  degree  as  scarcely  could  be 
now  conceived.  Schools  were  dismissed.  The 
judges,  not  unwillingly,  adjourned  the  Courts,  for 
they  were  deserted  by  lawyers,  suitors  and  wit- 
nesses. Clergymen  thought  it  no  impropriety  to 
see  a  well  contested  race;  and  if  grave  physi- 
cians played  truant,  they  were  sure  to  be  found  in 
the  crowd  on  the  race  ground.  Every  stable  in 
the  city  was  emptied — every  saddle  and  bridle 
put  into  requisition,  and  those  who  could  procure 
neither  horse,  saddle,  nor  bridle,  enlisted  as  pe- 
destrians. The  course  itself  presented  quite  a 
showy  and  animated  spectacle,  from  the  number 

of  well  dressed  and  well  mounted  horsemen,  and 

*  *        < 

from  the  display  of  equipages  and  liveries. 

The  whole  week  was  devoted  to  pleasure  and 
the  interchanges  of  conviviality ;  nor  were  the 
ladies  unnoticed,  for  the  Race  ball,-  given  to  them 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  63" 

by  the  Jockey  Club,  was  always  the  most  splendid 
of  the  season.  But,  in  all  this  round  of  gaiety 
and  enjoyment,  business  was  not  neglected.  For 
throughout  the  country,  its  engagements  were 
generally  postponed  to  the  race  week  in  Charles- 
ton, where  the  planter  came  to  settle  accounts 
with  his  factor,  or  to  receive  the  proceeds  of  his 
crops,  as  well  as  to  pay  off  the  annual  bills  of  the 
merchant,  who  had  supplied  him  with  groceries 
and  other  articles,  throughout  the  past  year ;  for 
before  the  days  of  banks,  all  credits  were  annual, 
and  dependent  upon  crops.  The  circulation  of 
money  thus  produced,  had  its  effect,  no  doubt,  in 
enhancing  the  general  good  humour. 

The  first  race  course  I  remember  was  on  the- 
Meeting-street  road,  a  little  above  the  old  rope- 
walk,  near  the  centre  of  which  stood  Creighton's 
tavern  (since  burnt  down).  This  place  was  after- 
wards abandoned,  and  the  Washington  Course 
purchased  by  the  Jockey  Club,  which  has  ever 
since  continued  to  be  the  scene  of  this  happy 
reunion.  •  •", 

About  the  time  we  are  speaking  of,  there  were 
no  places  of  public  resort  for  amusement  or  recrea- 
tion in  Charleston,  if  we  except  what  was  called 
Gibbes'  bridge,  on  South  Bay,  which  was  a  frame- 
work of  timber  extending  southwardly  about  two* 
hundred  feet,  to  the  edge  of  the  channel  of  Ashley 


64  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

river,  opposite  the  present  ship-yard.  At  the  end 
of  this  bridge  was  a  small  building,  where  seats 
and  refreshments  were  provided  for  the  company 
that  used  to  resort  there  on  warm  summer  even- 
ings. Those  who  preferred  riding,  went  to  Wat- 
son's garden,  a  beautifully  cultivated  piece  of 
ground,  between  Meeting  and  King-streets,  about 
a  mile  from  the  city,  adorned  with  shrubbery  and 
hedges,  and  fine  umbrageous  trees,  some  of  which 
either  now,  or  lately,  served  to  indicate  its  situa- 
tion. 

I  had  intended,  from  the  commencement  of  this 
paper,  to  make  some  observations  in  regard  to  the 
religious  improvement  of  our  community,  within 
the  period  of  my  recollection.  I  would  not  ven- 
ture to  say  that  religion  had  no  place  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people  at  that  time,  or  that  it  did  not 
exercise  an  active  and  vital  influence  over  very 
many  of  them.  But  I  think  its  general  manifes- 
tation consisted  rather  in  a  decent  respect  for 
outward  observances,  and  in  a  formal  compliance 
With  its  social  requirements,  than  in  that  deep 
and  devotional  sense  of  its  sacred  obligations, 
which  now  characterize  so  large  a  proportion  of 
our  community.  The  Sabbath  was  not  duly  ob- 
served. It  was  too  often,  in  doors,  a  day  of 
company  and  festive  pleasure ;  and  out  of  doors 
(particularly  of  an  afternoon)  one  of  noisy  relax- 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  65 

ation.  It  was  also  a  day  for  formal  visiting,  and 
for  the  display  of  equipages  and  horses,  for  in 
that  day  carriages  were  not  so  common  as  now, 
and  every  carriage  was  known  by  its  livery,  some 
of  which  were  very  showy.  There  were,  at  that 
time,  but  two  so  called  churches  in  Charleston — 
every  other  place  of  worship  being  termed  meet- 
ing-houses, and  their  congregation  denominated 
meet-ners.  And  even  ministers  of  the  gospel  did, 
occasionally,  patronize,  with  their  presence,  the 
performance  of  a  good  tragedy.  It  was_at  this 
period  that  an  intelligent  traveller  observed,  "  that 
devotion  is  not  a  prevailing  fashion  in  this  coun- 
try." However,  of  the  present  state  of  religious 
improvement  in  our  community,  as  contrasted 
with  that  condition  of  indifference  and  inactivity, 
it  is  unnecessary  to  speak.  But  the  past  is  cer- 
tainly entitled  to  the  benefit  of  at  least  one  extenu- 
ating consideration.  It  was  not  the  day  of  Bible 
Societies  and  Sunday  Schools,  or  of  those  various 
auxiliary  agencies,  which  have  since  been  so 
actively  employed  for  the  diffusion  of  religious 
truth,  and  which  have  wrought  so  wonderful  a 
change  in  the  moral  aspect  of  our  community. 
Indeed,  Charleston,  in  common  with  the  whole 
State,  at  that  time,  was  very  inadequately  supplied 
with  the  means  even  of  ordinary  instruction  for 
the  poor,  whilst  the  wealthy  depended  upon 
9 


66  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

the  Northern  colleges  for  the  education  of  their 
sons. 

Upon  the  whole,  I  can  truly  say,  that  in  no  one 
particular  does  our  community  exhibit  a  more 
important  and  decided  improvement  in  a  reminis- 
cence of  sixty  years,  that  in  its  religious  character, 
which  proves  that  the  soil  was  good,  and  needed 
only  the  hand  of  the  sower. 

In  'evidence  of  this,  one  significant  fact  may  be 
mentioned.  In  the  year  1807,  as  stated  in  a  di- 
rectory of  that  date,  there  were  fifteen  places  of 
worship  in  Charleston,  whereas  now  there  are 
thirty-three,  most  of  them  capacious,  and  one  of 
them  (the  Cathedral)  capable  of  accommodating 
one  thousand  persons.  From  the  same  source  we 
learn  that  there  were  then  but  twelve  ministers  of 
the  Gospel  settled  in  Charleston.  As  I  remember 
them  all,  and  was  well  acquainted  with  some  of 
them,  I  will  here  mention  a  few  names.  The 
Rev.  Drs.  Bowen,  Buist,  Detargny,  Faber,  Fur- 
man,  Gallagher,  Hollingshead,  Jenkins,  Dr.  Keith, 
Mellard,  Munds,  Pogson. 

The  eminent  position  now  occupied  by  the 
medical  profession  in  Charleston,  and  the  suc- 
cessful reputation  of  their  college,  with  all  its 
means  of  affording  a  complete  education,  recalls 
forcibly  to  mind  the  time  when  our  city  furnished 
no  opportunities  whatever  of  instruction  to  the 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  67 

medical  student,  when  he  was  invariably  com- 
pelled to  seek  it  abroad,  or  to  enter  upon  the 
practice  of  his  profession  with  no  other  qualifica- 
tion than  the  superficial  knowledge  he  had  picked 
up  in  a  Doctor's  shop — when  the  lover  of  science 
had  neither  incentives  or  facilities  for  pursuing 
his  enquiries,  and  when  the  Medical  Society  of 
Charleston  was  said  to  be  the  only  scientific  insti- 
tution in  South  Carolina.  However,  Charleston 
has  never  been  without  its  full  share  of  skillful 
practitioners,  although  all  of  them  had  been 
educated  abroad — in  Edinburgh  chiefly  .'.for  those 
of  earlier  date — Philadelphia  afterwards.  Re- 
peated efforts  have  been  made  here,  at  different 
times,  to  create  a  taste  for  liberal  studies  connect- 
ed with  the  profession.  Dr.  Gallagher  lectured 
in  the  Charleston  Library,  on  several  popular 
branches  of  natural  philosophy.  Dr.  Chichester, 
an  English  gentleman,  gave  public .  lectures  on 
chemistry.  He  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Dickson, 
an  Irish  gentleman,  who  was  said  to  be  very  ac- 
complished. Dr.  P.  Prioleau,  and,  afterwards, 
Dr.  Benjamin  Simons,  also  attempted  it.  But  in 
no  instance  were  those  laudable  undertakings 
properly  encouraged.  A  botanic  garden  was  in- 
stituted here,  and  a  botanic  society  formed,  but 
both  failed. 

If  I  were  not  limited  to  my  own  recollections, 


68  MY   REMINISCENCES   OP  CHARLESTON. 

I  might  extend  a  retrospect  to  that  period  in  the 
history  of  Charleston,  when  such  men  as  Garden, 
Lining  and  Chalmers,  not  only  practiced  success- 
fully here,  but  recommended  their  names  to  the 
notice  of  posterity  by  their  scientific  and  medical 
works.  Amongst  the  friends  and  correspondents 
of  Dr.  Garden,  was  Linneus,  the  greatest  botanist 
of  his  age,  and  who  has  immortalized  his  name  in 
that  of  the  "  Gardinia"  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
and  fragrant  shrubs  in  the  world.  It  may  not 
be  uninteresting  here  to  state,  that  a  native  of 
Charleston  was  the  first  American  who  ever  ob- 
tained a  degree  in  medicine  abroad,  and  that  was 
William  Bull,  (son  of  the  late  Lieutenant  Governor, 
and  afterwards  himself  Lieutenant  Governor,)  who 
had  been  a  pupil  of  the  great  Boerhave,  at  Ley- 
den.  His  father,  the  first  Governor,  had  enter- 
tained Catesby,  the  celebrated  naturalist,  at  the 
family  seat,  at  Ashley  river,  where  there  is  now  a 
majestic  avenue  of  oaks,  said  to  have  been  planted 
by  his  hand. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  habit,  so  common  before 
the  revolution,  of  sending  young  men  from  this 
community  to  England  for  their  education.  And 
this  is  historically  illustrated  in  the  celebrated 
remonstrance  presented  to  the  King,  in  1774,  by 
the  native  Americans  then  residing  in  London. 
For  of  thirty  who  subscribed  it,  sixteen  were 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  69 

Carolinians ;  and  as  the  law  has  always  been  con- 
sidered a  road  to  preferment  in  Carolina,  and  best 
calculated,  by  its  liberal  studies  to  prepare  a 
young  man  for  public  as  well  as  professional  life, 
a  great  proportion  of  those  who  had  been  educa- 
ted in  that  country,  became  students  in  the  Tem- 
ple, and  qualified  themselves  for  future  usefulness 
and  distinction  at  home. 

General  Pinckney  informed  me  that  he  had 
been  called  to  the  bar  in  England,  and  had  ridden 
a  circuit.  Mr.  Pringle  had  also  kept  the  requisite 
terms,  and  would  have  been  admitted  to  practice 
but  for  the  oaths  of  allegiance,  which  the  condi- 
tion of  the  Colonies  at  that  time  prevented  his 
taking.  Chancellor  Hugh  Rutledge,  Governor 
Edward  Rutledge,  General  Read,  Judge  Grimke, 
and  our  late  worthy  Master  in  Equity,  Mr.  Gibbes, 
were  all  of  that  number.  I  remember  these  gen- 
tlemen, as  a  boy,  in  the  Court  House,  and  have  a 
lively  impression  of  the  manner  of  some  of  them. 
General  Pinckney's  style  of  speaking  was  bold, 
energetic  and  straight  forward;  Mr.  Rutledge's, 
persuasive  and  winning  ;  when  he  argued  a  case 
to  a  jury,  there  was  a  graceful  familiarity  in  his 
manner,  which  was  very  insinuating. 

Cotemporary  with  those  gentlemen,  were -many 
other  distinguished  lawyers,  who  continued,  long 
after  they  had  passed  away,  to  maintain  that  high 


70  MY   REMINISCENCES   OP   CHARLESTON. 

character  for  courtesy,  learning  and  liberality, 
which  their  example  and  practice  had  imparted  to 
the  Charleston  bar.  History  has  made  us  familiar 
with  the  distinguished  mark  of  General  Washing- 
ton's confidence,  in  their  several  claims  to  one  of 
the  highest  offices  in  his  gift. 

I  have  been  told  that  the  spirit  of  mutual  accom- 
modation at  the  bar,  was  such  as  to  lead  to  great 
irregularity.  For  often,  when  a  case  was  called 
in  court,  the  pleadings  were  not  made  up  or  filed, 
and  had  no  other  existence  than  in  the  mutual 
understanding  of  the  opposing  lawyers.  One  of 
the  members  being,  on  one  occasion,  taken  by 
surprise,  gave  out  to  the  bar,  that,  in  future,  he 
would  practice  according  to  the  strict  rules  of 
special  pleading.  General  P.  soon  after  brought 
an  action,  to  which  this  very  gentleman  filed  a 
long  special  plea.  General  P.  demurred  to  it,  and 
the  demurrer  being  sustained,  no  more  was  heard 
of  special  pleading.  As  it  may  be  interesting  to 
know  the  opinions  entertained  of  each  other  by 
some  of  those  distinguished  men,  I  once  heard 
General  Pinckney  say  of  Mr.  Pringle,  that  he  never 
left  anything  unsaid  that  his  case  required,  or 
finished  an  argument  without  exhausting  it.  In 
conversation,  some  years  afterwards,  with  Mr. 
Pringle  about  his  cotemporaries  at  the  bar,  he 
mentioned  General  Pinckney,  and  said  that  he  had 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OP   CHARLESTON.  71 

always  considered  him  as  his  most  formidable  op- 
ponent, for  he  never  failed  to  see  the  strong  points 
of  his  case,  or  to  use  the  most  forcible  arguments 
and  authorities  to  maintain  them. 

I  asked  General  Pinckney  about  Mr.  John  Rut- 
ledge's  style  of  speaking.  He  told  me  that  it  was 
strong  and  argumentative,  and  remarkable  for 
close  reasoning ;  and  said  that  it  resembled  Mr. 
Dunning's  (the  celebrated  Lord  Ashburton)  more 
than  that  of  any  speaker  he  had  ever  heard.  Now, 
in  General  Pinckney 's  day,  Mr.  Dunning  was  the 
most  celebrated  advocate  in  England.  Both  of 
those  gentlemen  informed  me  that  when  the  cir- 
cuits were  first  established,  they  rode  them  on 
horseback.  General  P.  said  that  the  most  profita- 
ble part  of  the  day  to  him  was  the  morning, 
before  the  meeting  of  the  court,  in  giving  opinions 
to  clients,  and,  when  required  to  give  them  in 
writing,  he  took  care  to  endorse  on  them  "given 
on  circuit"  not  having  the  aid  of  books.  He 
mentioned  that  he  had  once  received  fifty  guineas 
before  breakfast. 

It  may  be  curious  to  learn  the  profits  of  the 
profession  in  that  day.  It  was  stated  by  the  Due 
de  Liancourt,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  most 
or  all  of  the  gentlemen  named,  that  General  Pinck- 
ney, Mr.  Rutledge,  Mr.  Pringle,  and  Mr.  Holmes, 
made  from  eighteen  to  twenty-three  thousand  dol- 


72  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

lars  a  year,  and  that  eight  or  ten-  others  earned 
from  ten  to  twelve  thousand  a  year.  The  exten- 
sive commercial  business  of  Charleston  at  that 
time  opened  a  wide  field  of  litigation.  Our  courts 
were  constantly  employed  in  heavy  insurance 
cases — in  questions  of  charter  party,  foreign  and 
inland  bills  of  exchange,  and  in  adjusting  foreign 
claims.  There  was  also  a  good  deal  of  business 
in  admiralty,  and,  occasionally,  a  rich  prize  case. 
Then  again,  new  questions  were  continually  aris- 
ing out  of  the  then  recent  acts  of  our  Legislature. 
Points  now  settled  were  then  open  to  construc- 
tion, involving  considerable  amounts  of  property. 
Titles  of  land  were  not  adjusted,  or  their  limits 
ascertained ;  and,  finally,  Charleston  was  then 
divided  into  two  strongly  defined  parties,  to  one 
or  other  of  which  every  citizen  belonged — that  of 
debtor  and  creditor. 

I  have  heard  some  of  those  old  lawyers  speak  of 
their  early  habits  of  study,  and  their  learning  was 
not  too  lightly  earned  for  its  reward.  It  is  not 
for  me  to  say  whether  law,  as  a  science,  is  better 
understood  now  than  formerly,  or,  its  practice 
more  conducive  to  the  ends  of  justice,  or  would 
it  be  in  place  here  to  enquire  whether  the  modern 
lawyer  is  learned  in  proportion  to  the  increased 
number  of  his  books.  But  one  thing  may  be  safely 
asserted,  that  a  law  library  at  the  period  to  which 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  73 

we  are  now  referring,  such  as  probably  laid  the 
foundation  of  an  Eldon's  or  a  Stowell's  attainments, 
would  make  but  a  meagre  array  on  the  shelves  of 
a  modern  American  jurist.  But  the  books  that 
composed  that  library  were  profoundly  read  and 
digested.  The  great  fathers  of  English  law  were 
the  oracles  of  the  student.  His  was  not  the  day 
of  digests,  and  indexes,  and  abridgements.  He 
imbibed  his  knowledge  in  deep  draughts  from 
those  ancient  fountains,  which  had  been  approach- 
ed with  reverence  by  his  great  predecessors. 
10 


' 


PART   II. 


I  RESUME  the  subject  of  the  Bar  of  Charleston, 
at  which,  you  may  remember,  I  discontinued  the 
former  part  of  this  paper.  And  I  do  it  more 
willingly  on  account  of  the  long  list  of  very 
respectable  names  it  recalls  to  my  mind — names 
highly  cherished  in  their  day,  but  which  have 
passed  away  with  the  multiplied  interests  in  which 
they  were  involved,  and  with  the  friends  by  whom 
they  were  admired  and  sustained. 

It  is  indeed  mortifying  to  professional  pride  to 
reflect  on  the  number  of  those  who  have  devoted 
all  their  energies  to  the  great  object  of  cotempo- 
rary  usefulness  and  distinction,  upon  whose  legal 
and  forensic  exertions  whole  communities  have 
dwelt  with  the  deepest  anxiety,  and  rewarded 
with  the  warmest  admiration,  and  most  entire 
confidence — lawyers,  who,  notwithstanding  their 
days  and  nights  of  study,  and  the  wide  place  they 
held  in  the  estimation  of  their  cotemporaries, 
have  left  no  other  memorial  of  their  extensive 
practice,  but  the  records  of  the  Clerk's  Office,  or 


76  MY    REMINISCENCES   OP    CHARLESTON. 

an  occasional  argument  published  in  the  reports 
of  their  day.  Others,  more  fortunate,  by  being 
elevated  to  the  Bench,  have  left  their  names  in- 
delibly inscribed  in  the  great  Album  of  Time, 
and  -will  always  be  identified  with  the  history  of 
our  Jurisprudence.  To  such  it  would  be  unneces- 
sary to  refer.  But  from  .that  class,  who  were 
either  unambitious  of  office,  or  died  before  the 
day.  of  their  reward,  it  would  be  gratifying  to 
select  a  few  prominent  names  for  your  notice, 
though  many  must  be  omitted,  not  less  worthy  of 
that  tribute.  Nor  can  I  presume  to  say  that  the 
influence  of  that  whole  enlightened  body  has  yet 
ceased  to  act  upon  the  character  and  interests  of 
our  community ;  as  the  stream  may  have  long 
flowed  past  which  nourished  the  tender  roots  of 
the  tree  we-  now  admire  for  its  sturdiness.  Can 
such  lawyers  as  those  named  before,  and  William 
H.  DeSaussure,  Thomas  Parker,  Timothy  Ford, 
John  Ward,  Langdon  Cheves,  William  Drayton, 
Keating  Lewis  Simons,  Robert  Y.  Hayne,  Thomas 
S.  Grimke,  Samuel  Prioleau,  John  Gadsden,  Henry 
Bailey,  Hugh  S.  Legare,  who  Jhave  been  success- 
ively prominent  at  our  Bar,  and  identified  with 
all  the  great  legal,  constitutional  and  civil  ques- 
tions of  their  times,  not  have  left  an  impression 
upon  them,  both  salutary  and  lasting  ? 

Mr.  Ward,  whom  I  have  stated,  was  a  distin- 


MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON. 

guislied  membe'r  of  the  profession.  He  had  read 
law  at  the  Temple,  came  early  to  the  Bar,  and  bapl 
a  very  full  practice.  He  was  remarkable  for  the 
promptness  and  activity  of  his  mind,  qualities 
essential  to  a  commercial  lawyer,  and  that  was 
his  position.  He  was  an  industrious  and  devoted 
practitioner,  and  possessed  of  a  thorough  know- 
ledge of  business,  in  all  its  details.  In  every 
important  case  arising  out  of  bills  of  exchange, 
accounts  and  policies  of  insurance,  he  was  a  stand- 
ing counsel.  In  his  practice  and  deportment,  he 
was  kind  and  liberal,  particularly  to  the  younger 
members  of  the  Bar.  He  died,  whilst  oh  a  visit 
to  New  York,  in  the  summer  of  1816. 

Mr.  Timothy  Ford  was  a  native  of  New  Jersey, 
and  a  graduate  of  Princeton.  After  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  in  which  he  had  served  as  a  volun- 
teer whilst  yet  a  youth,  and  been  grievously 
wounded,  he  entered  a  lawyer's  office  in  New 
York,  and,  when  qualified  to  practice,  caine  to 
Charleston  and  was  admitted  at  our '  Bar.  The 
character  of  the  Bar  at  that  time  prevented  all 
hope  of  distinction  without  ardent  and  honourable 
competition ;  but  his  mind  was  prepared  for  that 
by  severe  and  diligent  study,  and  he  became  a 
successful  and  highly  respectable  practitioner. 
He  entered  early  into  co-partnership  with  Mr. 


78  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

DeSaussure,  which  continued  until  the  elevation 
of  that  gentleman  to  the  Chancery  bench. 

Mr.  Ford's  manner  before  the  court  was  grave, 
methodical  and  argumentative,  and  his  views  were 
always  based  upon  profound  legal  learning,  and 
marked  by  sound  discrimination  and  judgment. 
He  died  about  the  year  1831. 

Another  eminent  lawyer,  never  raised  to  office, 
was  Mr.  Keating  Lewis  Simons.  He  had  studied 
with  Mr.  Edward  Rutledge,  and  seems  to  have 
made  his  way  to  distinction  more  from  a  determi- 
nation to  attain  it,  than  from  any  early  develop- 
ment of  the  powers  he  afterwards  exhibited,  for 
his  rise  at  the  Bar  was  so  discouragingly  slow  that 
nothing  but  the  most  undaunted  energy,  could 
have  sustained  him  in  his  retired  hours  of  severe 
and  arduous  study.  This  energy  was  his  distin- 
guishing feature  through  life.  In  all  that  he 
conceived.,  or  felt,  or  undertook,  or  executed,  it 
was  prominently  displayed.  And  yet,  after  he 
had  triumphed  over  every  obstacle,  and  became 
rewarded  by  the  fullest  practice,  he  was  never  so 
confident  in  himself  as  not  to  prepare  thoroughly 
in  every  case.  His  style  of  speaking  was  earnest, 
even  to  vehemence,  and  this  was  never  varied, 
whether  in  addressing  a  Jury,  a  Chancellor,  or  a 
Bench  of  Judges.  To  a  friend  who  remarked  this 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  79 

to  him  once,  he  promptly  replied,  "If  I  don't 
drown  my  feelings  in  my  voice,  I  can't  argue  at 
all." 

His  services  were  sought  in  every  case  where 
feeling  or  character  was  involved,  for  in  no  keep- 
ing could  either  be  safer  ;  and  in  his  management 
of  such  cases  the  man  was  so  mixed  up  with  the 
lawyer,  that  it  was  difficult  which  to  admire  most. 
For  "such,"  in  the  language  of  his  eulogist,*  "was 
his  professional  courtesy,  that  he  was  just  to  his 
clients  without  being  illiberal  to  their  adversa- 
ries;" and  yet  it  was  said  that  it  was  in  the  Court 
of  Chancery  that  his  professional  career  was  most 
useful.  He  died  in  1819,  at  the  age  of  forty-four. 

Amongst  the  prominent  men  of  this  class,  and 
not  the  least  so,  was  Mr.  Grimke,  whom  I  can  but 
barely  mention  here,  for  it  would  be  impossible  to 
do  justice  to  his  professional  character  in  the  brief 
space  of  one  of  these  sketches.  In  the  large  sum- 
mary of  his  intellectual  attainments,  his  profound 
and  accurate  legal  learning,  with  all  its  attendant 
accomplishments  of  truth,  liberality  and  eloquence, 
was  but  a  single  item ;  and  of  that  learning,  I 
must  be  satisfied  with  repeating  what  was  once  so 
justly  said  of  it — "  that  it  comprehended  the 
minutest  details  and  the  broadest  principles." 

*John  Gadsden,  Esq. 


80  MY    REMINISCENCES   OP   CHARLESTON. 

Mr.  G.  died  of  cholera,  in  Ohio,  in  the  autumn  of 
1834 

Whilst,  in  all  professions,  the  highest  talents 
are  not  always  directed  by  the  best  principles,  and 
eminence  is  not  the  invariable  criterion  of  integ- 
rity,'it  is  a  pleasing ,  duty  to  single  out  and  do 
justice  to  modest  and  retiring  merit,  which  is 
satisfied  to  pursue  the  quiet  path  of  duty,  and  to 
look  for  its  remuneration  to  an  approving  con- 
science. .With  this  reflection,  so  applicable  to  the 
man,  it  gives  me  pleasure  to  bring  to  your  notice 
lawyer  Griggs,  a  practitioner  of  my  day.  • 

Mr.  Griggs  was,  I  believe,  a  native  of  Connecti- 
cut, and  graduated  at  Yale  College,  in  1783.  He 
came  to  the  South  soon  after,  and  adopting  the 
law  as  his  profession,  studied  either  in  Savannah 
or  Charleston,  and  was  admitted  at  our  Bar  in 
1795.  Nature  had  denied  to  him  the  gift  of  apt 
and  ready  elocution,  for  he  spoke  slowly  and  with 
hesitation ;  but  he  never  uttered  a  word  that  be- 
trayed a  want  of  sound  understanding,  for  he  was 
a  well-read  lawyer,  and  an  exact  practitioner ;  and 
the  business  entrusted  to  him  was  the  well-earned 
reward  of  diligence,  punctuality  and  integrity. 
In  1803,  he  read  an  essay  before  the  Charleston 
Library  Society,  on  metaphysics,  which  was  after- 
wards published  and  read  with  high  commenda- 
tion. Mr.  Griggs  died  in  1816,  and  it  is  grateful 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  81 

to  record  that  the  leading  members  of  the  Bar 
united  in  the  last  tribute  to  his  remains. 

Mr.  Thomas  Winstanly  was  another  lawyer  of 
that  day,  whose  private  worth  was  his  chief 
recommendation  to  a  respectable  position  at  our 
Bar.  He  was  skilled  in  all  that  related  to  the 
forms  of  practice,  and  in  addition  to  his  expe- 
rience as  an  attorney,  was  considered  an  excellent 
conveyancer.  He  never  ventured  to  speak  in 
Court,  but  if  a  difficulty  arose  in  any  of  his  cases, 
he  was  held  in  such  esteem  by  the  Bar,  that  the 
services  of  the  ablest  of  his  brethren  were  at  his 
command  ;  and  this  was  a  tribute  cheerfully  paid 
to  that  integrity  of  purpose  which  always  charac- 
terized him. 

Being  a  native  Englishman,  he  adhered  to  the 
British  cause  during  the  war,  and  when  Charles- 
ton surrendered,  he  became  Secretary  to  the 
Provost  Marshal.  After  the  evacuation,  he  was 
banished,  but  subsequently  permitted  to  return, 
and  resume  his  practice.  Mr.  Winstanley  had 
studied  law  before  the  Revolution,  in  the  office  of 
the  Hon.  James  Parsons,  a  counsellor  of  great 
celebrity  in  his  day.  Mr.  Parsons,  an  Irishman 
by  birth,  was  a  devoted  supporter  of  the  Ameri- 
can cause.  He  died  in  1779,  being  then  Yice 
President  of  South  Carolina.  The  respect  and 
attentions  of  Mr.  Winstanley  to  the  widow  of  his 
11 


^¥» 
•1% 


82  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

former  preceptor,  came  within  my  personal  know- 
ledge, (for  she  was  a  relation).  They  were  highly 
honourable  to  him,  and  were  rewarded  by  his 
being  appointed  her  sole  executor. 

In  the  year  1803,  the  Bar  lost  a  promising 
young  member  in  Mr.  John  McCrady,  who  died 
at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  years.  Mr.  Drayton, 
his  cotemporary  and  friend,  in  an  obituary  notice, 
ascribed  to  him  qualities  which  would  have  raised 
him  to  distinction  in  the  profession.  I  remember 
him.  He  was  an  earnest  and  energetic  speaker, 
and  his  eulogist  attributes  to  him  great  manliness 
of  diction  and  eloquence,  without  the  parade  of 
ornament.  His  career  at  the  Bar  was  short,  but 
one  of  great  promise. 

The  recollection  of  few  members  of  the  bar,  of 
his  day,  is  pleasanter  to  my  mind  than  that  of 
William  Crafts,  to  whose  name  the  epithet  "gift- 
ed *  has  been  so  constantly  applied  as  almost  to 
become  its  inseparable  adjunct.  For  one  who  had 
not  prepared  himself,  by  a  diligent  and  exclusive 
course  of  study,  for  that  eminence  to  which,  from 
his  early  efforts,  he  seemed  to  aspire,  no  young 
man  ever  came  to  our  bar  with  higher  promise. 
A  reputation,  acquired  at  College,,  had  preceded 
him,  and  prepared  the  public  mind  for  the  impres- 
sive charms  of  his  elocution. 

If  he  had  then  followed  the  example  of  Sir 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  83 

William  Blackstone,  and  bidden  farewell  to  his 
muse,  or  remembered  the  words  of  Sir  William 
Jones,  "that  the  law  requires  the  whole  man,  and 
admits  of  no  concurrent  pursuits,"  he  might  have 
occupied  a  prominent  place  in  that  company  of 
eminent  lawyers,  with  which*  his  new  position  as- 
sociated him.  But  he  was  incapable  of  the  effort. 
A  mind  so  moulded  as  his  could  not  resist  the 
seductions  of  the  muse,  or  be  made  to  bend  to  the 
rigid  exactions  of  his  profession.  His  first  speech 
at  the  Bar  was  in  an  insurance  case,  in  which  he 
had  fully  prepared  himself;  and  he  made  a  bril- 
liant argument.  This  was  about  the  year  1810. 
The  commercial  community  was  delighted  at  his 
success.  Business  flowed  upon  him  and  continued 
to  increase,  until  it  entangled  him  in  competitions 
which  he  was  not  able  to  encounter.  The  lawyer 
who,  for  want  of  more  enlarged  preparation, 
studies  only  for  his  cases,  and  is  unable  to  meet 
the  incidental  questions  of  evidence,  practice  or 
other  mooted  grounds  that  unexpectedly  arise  in 
a  case,  builds  his  hopes  of  success  upon  a  very 
slender  foundation. 

Mr.  Crafts  had  an  excellent  memory,  which 
enabled  him  always  to  make  the  best  use  of  his 
legal  knowledge,  but  he  took  little  pains  to  im- 
prove it.  Such  was  the  versatility  of  his  mind, 
and  so  various  his  tastes,  that  he  was  as  sensible 


84  MY   BEMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

to  the  praise  bestowed  upon  one  of  his  beautifully 
written  poems,  or  popular  orations,  as  he  ought 
to  have  been,  had  it  been  applied  to  a  well  argued 
case.  The  branch  of  law  with  which  he  was  most 
familiar,  was  what  he  had  gathered  from  the  pages 
of  Park  and  Marshall ;  and  it  was  his  delight  to 
address  a  jury  in  an  insurance  case.  But  here 
even,  on  the  surface  of  the  ocean,  there  was  a  con- 
flict between  law  and  imagination.  If  the  vessel 
had  sustained  a  loss  from  "  the  dangers  of  the 
sea,"  Virgil's  storm  was  not  more  poetically  paint- 
ed than  his ;  or,  if  her  voyage  had  been  prosper- 
ous, and  she  had  glided  on  securely — an  image 
was  sure  to  sparkle  on  every  wave. 

Mr.  Crafts  was  always  so  excellent  a  declaimer 
that  he  was  chiefly  retained  in  those  cases  which 
enabled  him  to  indulge  in  his  favourite  style  of 
address — to  exhibit  the  play  of  his  ready  wit,  or 
to  call  forth  that  deep  and  irresistible  pathos  with 
which  it  was  his  peculiar  talent  to  invest  a  sub- 
ject. But  in  cases  involving  abstruse  questions  of 
law,  and  requiring  the  application  of  its  profound- 
est' doctrines,  it  is  no  disparagement  to  his  memory 
to  say  that  other  lawyers  were  preferred. 

That  chance  which  often  determines  the  intel- 
lectual fortunes  of  men,  did  not  smile  upon  our 
friend's  choice  of  his  profession,  for  it  is  but  fair 
to  add  that  his  ambition  was  not  for  legal  emi- 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON.  85 

nence,  but  rather  for  the  higher  and  wider  fame 
of  the  orator  and  statesman.  If  fortune  had 
favoured  this  preference,  and  given  to  his  aspira- 
tions a  congenial  element,  his  name  might  have 
been  one  of  enduring  renown. 

These  sketches  might  be  extended,  but  for  the 
fear  of  taxing  your  patience.  But  even  these, 
thus  casually  brought  to  your  notice,  are  sufficient 
to  show  that  the  reputation  of  the  Charleston  Bar 
has  always  rested  upon  high  moral  and  intellec- 
tual worth.  And  here  we  might  add  that  most 
the  gentlemen  named,  had  been  prominent  mem- 
bers of  our  Legislature  in  their  day,  and  some  of 
them  distinguished  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 

There  was  a  custom  prevalent  at  the  Bar,  within 
my  recollection,  which  I  forgot  to  mention  in  its 
place,  and  that  was  the  ready  use  of  Latin  law 
maxims  in  arguments  before  the  Court.  Indeed, 
no  lawyer,  whose  studies  have  been  properly 
directed,  can  undervalue  those  maxims,  for  they 
either  embody  principles  of  law  and  sound  rea- 
son, or  are  illustrations  of  settled  doctrines  and 
decisions,  and  when  judiciously  applied,  carry 
with  them  the  weight  of  authority.  Like  the 
Common  Law  itself,  which  is  defined  to  be  a  col- 
lection of  ancient  English  maxims  and  usages, 
they  have  grown  out  of  the  wisdom  and  learning 
of  ages,  and  are  inseparable  from  that  system 


86  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

which  they  illustrate  and  enforce.  If  the  use  of 
them  has  been  discontinued  by  the  lawyers  of  the 
present  day,  it  is  not  to  be  presumed  that  either 
they  or  the  Court  could  not  understand  and  ap- 
preciate a  well-applied  maxim  because  it  was  in 
Latin,  But  the  practice  and  utilitarian  spirit  of 
the  times,  regarding  merely  the  ends  of  justice, 
rejects,  as  adventitious  and  foreign,  all  that  is 
not  indispensably  necessary  to  their  attainment. 
Besides,  there  is  a  modern  prejudice  against  Latin 
quotations  in  every  production  of  the  mind, 
whether  professional  or  literary.  By  the  old 
lawyers,  of  whom  we  have  spoken,  these  max- 
ims never  appeared  to  be  sought  after  or  to  be 
introduced  into  an  argument  for  the  sake  of  vain 
display ;  but,  on  the  contrary,,  they  seemed  to  flow 
involuntarily  from  the  fullness  and  readiness  of 
their  learning. 

In  a  Charleston  Directory,  published  in  1807,  I 
find  that  at  that  period,  there,  were  thirty-eight 
practicing  lawyers  in  Charleston. 

Amongst  the  old  customs  of  the  Bar,  now  abol- 
ished, was  the  preaching  of  session  sermons,  for 
which  the  minister  was  allowed,  by  law,  a  sum  of 
three  pounds,  to  be  paid  by  the  sheriff  out  of 
fines  and  forfeitures.  The  last  that  I  remember 
in  Charleston,  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  James 
D.  Simons,  in  St.  Michael's  Church.  (Mr.  Simons 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  87 

was  one  of  the  original  members  of  this  club.) 
But  looking  over  an  old  State  Gazette  of  January, 
1799,  I  found  the  notice  of  a  session  sermon 
preached  in  St.  Michael's  Church,  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Purcell ;  and  this  recalled  to  my  mind  an  incident 
connected  with  that  very  occasion.  Mr.  John 
Rutledge,  of  revolutionary  celebrity,  (who  died 
in  May,  1800,)  chanced  to  meet  me  near  the 
church  whilst  the  judge  and  sheriff,  and  a  few 
officers  of  the  court,  were  crossing  over  from  the 
court-house.  Seeing  this  scant  and  motley  pro- 
cession, he  asked  what  it  meant.  I  told  him  they 
were  going  to  hear  a  sessions  sermon,  when  he 
observed  how  differently  it  had  been  conducted 
formerly,  when  the  judges  in  their  scarlet  robes, 
and  the  lawyers  also  robed,,  and  all  the  attendants 
of  the  court,  proceeded  in  great  form  to  the 
church.*  This  meeting  is  further  impressed  upon 
my  recollection  by  his  offering  to  walk  up  with 
me  to  General  C.  C.  Pinckney's  house,  to  show 
me  Stuart's  portrait  of  Washington,  then  recent- 
ly sent  here,  which  he  accordingly  did.  I  now 
pass  to  other  subjects. 

As  the  youth  of  any  community  are  the  great 
elementary  material  out  of  which  its  character  is 
formed  and  perpetuated,  I  cannot  omit  some 

*  I  have  lately  seen  an  old  law  of  the  province,  directing  two  Assize- 
sermons  to  be  preached  every  year. 


88  MT  REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

observations  on  so  important  a  feature  of  my  early 
reminiscences  as  the  boys  of  Charleston,  a  word 
which  has  almost  become  obsolete,  as  it  denotes  a 
grade  in  life,  between  the  child  and  man,  scarcely 
any  longer  recognized. 

The  young  gentleman,  as  he  is  noV  called, 
disdains  to  engage  in  the  sports  and  diversions  so 
popular  in  former  times,  and  which,  however 
subordinate  to  other  pursuits,  were  not  then 
thought  unsuitable  to  his  age,  or  less  important 
to  his  physical  education. 

The  manly  sports  of  ball,  shinee,  jumping,  run- 
ning, wrestling,  and  swimming,  are  now  laid  aside 
as  unworthy  of  modern  refinement.  But  they 
were  as  common  among  the  elder  boys  of  my 
time,  as  marbles,  tops  and  kites  were,  amongst  the 
little  ones.  Fights,  too,  were  very  frequent.  They 
were  an  ordeal  through  which  every  youngster 
had  to  pass,  and,  according  to  the  spirit  displayed 
by  him,  was  his  standing  afterwards  amongst  the 
boys.  Their  favourite  swimming  places  were 
Cannon's  Bridge,  Cumming's  Point,  the  end  of 
Savage's  Green,  and  South  Bay,  at  the  lower  end 
of  King-street,  where  there  was  a  boat  pen  of 
upright  palmetto  logs — which  was  the  great  resort 
of  learners.  From  this  place  a  party  of  boys  once 
undertook  to  swim  to  James  Island.  This  bold 
undertaking  was  accomplished  by  only  one  .of 


MY    REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  89 

them,  who  had  to  return  alone,  as  his  companions 
gave  out  and  abandoned  the  enterprize.  It  might 
be  said  that  these  hardy  and  venturesome  sports 
have  been  discontinued  because  there  are  no 
longer  any  greens  to  play  on,  or  that  the  former 
swimming  places  have  since  become  public ;  but 
the  truth  is,  that  the  old  English  customs  which 
lingered  so  long  amongst  them,  after  the  revolu- 
tion, have  yielded  to  a  new  order  of  things.  The 
youth  of  the  country,  whose  traditional  usages 
had  always  been  very  marked,  have,  at  length, 
conformed  to  it  in  their  habits  and  characters. 
Every  thing  appropriate  to  the  boy,  in  the  way  of 
sport  and  diversion,  is  now  laid  aside  in  his  im- 
patience to  affect  the  man. 

This  peculiarity  of  the  rising  generation  in  our 
country,  has  been  noticed  by  foreigners,  for  it  was 
the  remark  of  an  English  traveller,  that  "our 
brethren  in  the  United  States  seem  to  have  entirely 
forgotten  the  childish  amusements  of  our  common 
ancestors.  I  never  saw  school-boys  playing  at 
any  game  whatever.  Cricket,  foot-ball,  quoits, 
appear  to  be  entirely  unknown."  The  fact  is, 
that  the  " Imberbis  Juvenis"  is  hurried  on  by  the 
impulsive  spirit  of  the  age  to  assume  the  habits, 
and  enter  upon  the  occupations  of  maturer  life ; 
and,  therefore,  studiously  avoids  whatever  might 
12 


90 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 


even  appear  inconsistent  with  the  standing  to 
which  he  aspires. 

These  observations  apply  not  peculiarly  to  the 
youth  of  our  country,  for  I  have  lately  met  with 
the  remark  of  an  English  writer,  that  "the  pre- 
cocity of  the  rising  generation  is  really  a  most 
remarkable  characteristic  of  the  century."  In  con- 
nection with  this  observation  there  is  a  general 
remark  I  may  venture  to  make,  which  is,  that  the 
youth  of  former  times  were  more  respectful  to 
age  than  they  are  now.  This,  also,  may  be  charac- 
teristic of  the  century. 

By  a  very  natural  transition,  I  pass  from  youth 
to  education.  Charleston  was,  for  a  long  time, 
very  imperfectly  supplied  with  schools,  and  those 
never  professing  to  teach  more  than  Greek  and 
Latin,  and  writing  and  cyphering,  and  English 
grammar.  This  want  of  the  means  of  liberal 
education  at  home  was,  no  doubt,  the  cause  of  so 
many  of  our  young  men  being  sent  to  Northern 
colleges.  But  the  necessity  of  a  change,  which 
had  been  long  felt,  became  at  length  so  obviously 
indispensable,  that  the  citizens  of  Charleston  in- 
terested themselves  with  laudable  zeal  in  the  cause 
of  domestic  education,  and  have  now  the  satisfac- 
tion of  knowing  that  the  high  school  and  college 
established  in  this  city,  furnish  the  best  means  of 


MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON.  91 

obtaining  it ;  and  I  would  here  remark,  that  teach- 
ing itself,  as  a  pursuit,  has  become  more  valued 
and  respected  than  it  was  formerly,  from  the 
character  and  attainments  of  those  gentlemen  who 
profess  and  practice  it. 

As  the  College  of  Charleston  is  now  a  promi- 
nent institution  in  our  community,  I  hope  to  be 
excused  for  travelling  a  little  beyond  my  recollec- 
tion, for  the  information  respecting  it,  which  I 
may  be  able  to  give. 

Its  origin  may  be  traced  to  June,  1770,  as  ap- 
pears by  the  journals  of  that  day,  when  the  people 
of  Charleston  held  a  meeting  to  consult  about 
"petitioning  the  assembly  for  the  establishment 
of  a  college  in  or  near  Charleston."  But  the  sub- 
ject was  not  acted  upon  until  after  the  war.  On 
the  19th  of  March,  1785,  the  Legislature  granted 
a  charter  for  a  college  "in  or  near  the  city  of 
Charleston,"  as  soon  as  funds  should  be  raised  to 
enable  it  to  go  into  operation — and  appropriated 
certain  lands  for  the  purpose,  which  had  previously 
been  set  apart  for  a  free  school.  Under  this  law 
the  first  meeting  of  trustees  was  held  on  the  26th 
August,  1785,  the  Governor  of  the  State  presiding. 

The  first  and  continued  object  of  their  zealous 
attention  was  the  condition  and  improvement  of 
the  funds  of  the  institution,  which  consisted  of  the 
lands  appropriated  as  aforesaid,  and  certain  dona- 


4 

«"*    *   * 

v      A   * 


92  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

tions  and  legacies  from  public  spirited  individuals. 
It  was  not  until  the  year  1789,  that  they  took  any 
step  towards  the  immediate  object  of  the  institu- 
tion. On  the  14th  March,  in  that  year,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Smith  proposed  to  the  trustees  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  a  college,  by  giving  up  to  it,  on  the 
1st  of  January  following,  the  youth  of  his  academy, 
amounting  to  sixty  scholars.  The  proposition  was 
at  once  accepted,  and  Dr.  Smith  appointed  princi- 
pal of  the  college.  Measures  were  promptly  taken 
by  the  trustees  to  repair  the  eastern  building  of 
the  old  brick  barracks,  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  schools,  and  surrounded  it  with  a  substantial 
brick  wall. 

The  first  examination  of  the  youths  of  the  insti- 
tution was  held  on  the  28th  of  April,  1790,  and 
was  announced  to  the  public  in  highly  encouraging 
terms  by  the  trustees,  under  the  signatures  of  Hon. 
Judge  Bee  and  Chancellor  Hutson. 

Possession  was  taken  of  the  building  in  1791. 
The  trustees  then  again  addressed  the  public,  an- 
nouncing the  unexpected  success  and  progress  of 
the  institution.  This  address,  setting  forth  the 
prosperity  and  future  promise  of  the  college,  was 
not  without  its  effect,  for  the  legislature,  shortly 
after,  viz.  December,  20th,  1791,  renewed  its 
charter,  superseding  the  former  one,  excepting  as 
to  the  land  formerly  reserved  for  the  use  of  the 


* 

I 

. 

MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON.  93 

college,  and  created  it  a  separate  corporation  with 
all  the  privileges  incident  to  a  collegiate  establish- 
ment, under  the  provisions  of  which  it  survives  to 
the  present  time. 

On  the  17th  of  October,  1794,  was  held  the  first 
commencement  of  the  Charleston  College,  when 
six  young  gentlemen  were  graduated  with  great 
promise  of  future  usefulness.  But  in.  the  case  of 
four  of  them,  public  hope  was  disappointed,  for 
they  died  young.  Of  the  two  who  survived,*  one 
chose  the  walks  of  private  life,  in  which  he  was 
distinguished  for  every  quality  that  adorns  it. 
The  other  was  the  late  Bishop  Bowen — afterwards 
president  of  the  college — and  whose  elevation  in 
the  church  was  the  best  recognition  of  his  worth. 
It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  know  who  were 
the  distinguished  trustees  present  on  that  occasion. 
Hon.  Judge  Bee,  president ;  General  C.  C.  Pinck- 
ney,  vice-president;  D.  DeSaussure,  treasurer; 
Hon.  Jacob  Read,  Dr.  D.  Ramsay,  Chancellor 
Mathews,  Chancellor  Hugh  Rutledge,  Judge  Hey- 
ward,  General  Vanderhorst,  and  Joseph  Manigault, 
Esq.  I  remember  that  the  principal,  on  that  occa- 
sion, wore  his  Cambridge  (England)  gown  and 
trencher.  It  is  not  so  much  the  object  of  these 
remarks  to  give  a  history  of  the  college,  as  to  show 
how  steadily  the  original  motive  was  adhered  to, 

*Thc  late  Mr.  William  Keyword. 


94  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

of  furnishing  the  means  of  a  finished  home  educa- 
tion— a  motive  which,  however  much  neglected 
afterwards,  has  since  become  recognized  as  inter- 
woven with  the  best  hopes  and  interests  of  South 
Carolina. 

After  the  period  last  mentioned,  the  institution 
declined,  and  at  length  laid  aside  its  collegiate 
character,  and  became  a  classical  academy,  which 
from  various  causes,  was  at  length  even  abandoned. 
The  property  of  the  college  was  swallowed  by 
debt,  and,  finally,  a  great  part  of  it  sold  by  a  de- 
cree of  the  Court  of  Equity. 

In  October,  1817,  an  effort  was  made  by  a  few 
gentlemen  to  raise  it  from  its  fallen  condition.  In 
this  they  were  so  far  fortunate  as  to  obtain  the 
coalition  of  three  flourishing  academys,  with  their 
respective  teachers.  A  beginning  thus  favour- 
able, formed  an  excellent  basis  for  further  exertion. 
Circumstances  occurred  to  encourage  their  hopes 
of  success,  when,  at  the  annual  meeting  in  1824, 
a  regular  course  of  college  studies  was  resolved 
on,  and  a  faculty  instituted.  By  a  resolution  of 
June,  1825,  a  subscription  was  opened  in  aid  of 
the  project,  and  so  liberally  patronised  by  the 
people  of  Charleston  and  the  neighbouring  coun- 
try, that  by  the  year  1830,  the  public  beheld  the 
college  edifice  completed,  and  the  campus  sur- 
rounded by  a  substantial  brick  wall. 


MY    REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  95 

The  chairman  of  the  committee  to  which,  in 
1817,  was  referred,  by  the  trustees,  the  important 
subject  of  inquiring  into  the  most  practicable  plan 
of  promoting  the  objects  of  the  institution  is  now 
present  with  us ;  and  the  unanimous  adoption  of 
their  report  was  the  first  step  taken  in  advancing 
the  college  to  its  present  prosperous  and  flourish- 
ing condition :  and,  I  may  here  add,  that  the  only 
members  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  that  day,  now 
living,  composed  that  committee—Mr.  King,  Judge 
Huger,  and  Mr.  Praser. 

The  first  commencement,  under  its  new  organi- 
zation, took  place  in  October,  1826  ;  and  the  use- 
fulness of  the  institution  has  been  since  amply 
realized,  in  the  high  and  honourable  position  of 
very  many  of  its  graduates. 

If  comparison  be  the  test  of  improvement,  we 
need  no  other  criterion  for  judging  of  the  present 
excellent  condition  of  the  fire  department  of 
Charleston,  than  the  recollection  of  what  a  fire 
was  in  former  times,  when  the  alarm  bell  from 
St.  Michael's  was  a  signal  of  general  dismay  and 
confusion — when  the  conflict  of  authority,  the 
multitude  of  advisers,  and  the  crowd  of  idle  look- 
ers-on, impeding  exertion,  made  a  fire  an  appalling 
occurrence.  Time  was  when  all  the  engines  were 
public  property,  excepting  one  belonging  to  the 
Phoanix  Insurance  Company  of  London,  which 


96  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

insured  very  largely  here  ;  when  water  was  con- 
veyed by  buckets,  from  hand  to  hand,  through 
long  lanes  —  and  when  there  was  no  hose  or  any 
other  hydraulic  improvement  to  aid  in  the  pro- 
pelling of  water. 

The  Vigilant  Fire  Company,  incorporated  1793, 
was  the  first  volunteer  association  in  Charleston, 
and  is,  therefore,  the  leader  of  that  noble  brigade 
which  has  since  so  often  triumphed  over  the 
enemy. 

If  any  city  on  the  continent  could  claim  to  be 
expert  in  the  extinguishment  of  fires  from  dearly 
bought  experience,  it  is  ours.  It  would  be  scarce- 
ly too  figurative  to  say  that  there  are  few  buildings 
in  Charleston  that  do  not  rest  upon  the  ashes  of 
former  ones.  We  need  only  turn  to  the  early 
statute  books  of  South-Carolina,  to  see  the  fre- 
quency of  the  acts  passed  "for  preventing  and 
suppressing  fires  in  Charleston,"  and,  also,  "for 
its  better  security  from  fire,"  to  be  convinced  how 
forcibly  the  subject  had  addressed  itself  to  the 
attention  of  the  assembly. 

After  the  last  great  fire  of  April,  1838,  covering, 
in  its  ravages,  an  extent  of  one  hundred  and  forty- 
five  acres,*  and  whilst  the  subject  was  fresh  in 
mind,  I  took  pains  to  look  into  our  provincial  and 
other  old  journals  for  information  on  the  subject, 
*So  stated  in  Governor  Butler's  proclamation. 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  97 

and  having  a  map  of  Charleston  before  me,  I  traced, 
with  pens,  in  different  colours,  the  limits  of  all  the 
great  fires  recorded  in  our  history,  from  the  earli- 
est, mentioned  by  Hewitt  as  occurring  in  Novem- 
ber, 1740,  down  to  that  from  which  our  city  had 
then  so  recently  suffered,  until  the  map,  from  the 
different  colours  used  in  delineating  them,  pre- 
sented quite  a  checkered  and  motley  appearance. 

The  first  fire  I  remember,  happened  when  I  was 
a  child.  It  commenced  on  the  premises  now  occu- 
pied by  St.  Andrew's  Hall,  and  extended  westward 
to  Friend-street,  destroying  in  its  course  some  fine 
mansions,  and  particularly  one  at  the  corner  where 
the  Cathedral  now  stands,  the  garden  of  which 
reaching  to  Queen-street,  was  afterwards  hired  by 
Placide  for  a  Vauxhall.  Nor  can  I  ever  forget 
the  consternation  produced  by  the  burning  of  the 
old  State  House,  which  happened  during  the  ses- 
sion of  the  Legislature  in  February,  1788. 

The  following  notice  of  it  is  extracted  from  the 
Gazette,  of  Thursday,  February  7,  1788: 

U0n  Tuesday  evening  a  fire  was  discovered  in 
the  Senate-room  of  the  State  House,  which,  in  a 
few  hours,  reduced  that  building  to  a  pile  of  ruins. 
The  conflagration  commenced  by  the  intense  heat 
of  the  fire,  catching  a  part  of  the  wainscoating, 
which  projected  over  the  bricks,  above  the  fire 
place.  Several  persons  rushed  into  the  room,  and 
13 


98  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON. 

could  have  easily  extinguished  the  fire  if  they  had 
been  readily  supplied  with  water.  But  after  this 
necessary  repellant  arrived,  in  sufficient  quantity, 
the  flames  ascended  into  the  upper  story,  and  there 
formed  a  crown  of  ruin  over  the  whole  building. 
Happily,  for  the  adjacent  houses,  there  was  a  very 
light  wind,  until  nearly  the  fury  of  the  fire  was 
spent.  The  building  was  begun  in  1753.  The 
first  stone  thereof  was  laid  by  J.  Glen,  Esq.,  then 
Governor,  on  the  22nd  June,  attended  by  the 
council,  the  general  assembly,  etc.  The  expense 
amounted  to  £59,127  sterling. 

"The  house  met  yesterday,  at  the  City  Tavern, 
and  after  going  through  some  business,  the  Intend- 
ant  informed  the  house  that  they  might,  if  they 
thought  proper,  sit  in  the  City  Exchange.  After 
a  little  investigation  as  to  its  safety,  and  on  hear- 
ing that  several  opulent  gentlemen  in  Charleston 
had  authorized  the  chief  magistrate  to  assure  the 
house  that  the  State  House  could  be  repaired  by 
cheerful  contribution  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  city, 
it  was  unanimously  agreed  that  if  his  honour,  the 
intendant,  reported  that  the  City  Hall  could  afford 
them  convenience  for  meeting,  they  should  adjourn 
there ;  and  that  a  large  committee  be  appointed 
to  consider  and  report  the  most  eligible  means  of 
repairing  the  State  House." 

Previously  to   this   time  the   Legislature   had 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON.  99 

always  met  in  Charleston,  which  was  the  seat  of 
government.*  But  afterwards  its  sessions  were 
held  in  Columbia.  Not  only  the  acts  of  1786-89, 
but  the  Constitution  of  1790,  providing  for  its  re- 
moval to  that  place.  I  may  here  introduce  an 
interesting  fact,  mentioned  to  me  by  the  late  vene- 
rable Mr.  John  Julius  Pringle.  He  pointed  out  to 
me,  one  day,  an  old  brick  house,  on  the  west  side 
of  Church-street,  two  doors  south  of  the  corner  of 
Tradd-street,  and  informed  me  that  the  old  Pro- 
vincial Assembly  had  been  formerly  accommodated 
there  by  Mr.  Miles  Brewton,  who  residence  it  was 
at  that  time.  He  also  mentioned  that  the  body 
then  consisted  of  about  forty  or  forty-five  mem- 
bers. I  do  not  remember  the  old  State  House, 
but  I  know  that  the  present  one  was  built  upon 
its  foundation,  and  differed  but  little  from  it  in 
its  interior  arrangements,  retaining  the  old  walls 
and  door-ways.  It  was  originally,  as  I  understand, 
a  two  story  building.  The  Charleston  Library 
Society  having  liberally  subscribed  towards  the 
rebuilding  of  it  were  allowed  to  occupy  a  portion 
of  the  third  story  for  their  books,  and  continued 
to  do  so  until  they  purchased  the  house  which 
they  now  occupy.  Another  part,  on  the  same 
floor,  was  occupied  by  the  Library  of  the  Medical 

*The  only  exception  was  when  they  met  at  Jacksonborough,  in 
January,  1782. 


100          MY   REMINISCENCES   OP    CHARLESTON. 

Society.  I  have  always  heard  that  the  plan  of  the 
new  building  was  furnished  by  Judge  William 
Drayton,  father  of  the  late  Colonel  William  Dray- 
ton.  But,  without  knowing  wherein  it  was  supe- 
rior to  the  former  one,  excepting  by  the  addition 
of  the  attic,  I  must  -say  that  I  have  always  thought 
it  one  of  the  best  proportioned  buildings  in  Charles- 
ton, and  wanting  only  a  back-ground  to  display 
its  architectural  beauty  to  proper  advantage. 

I  had,  for  a  long  time,  in  my  port-folio,  an  origi- 
nal draft  of  the  present  building,  with  all  its 
measurements  set  down,  which  differed  only  in  a 
parapet  wall  from  that  which  was  adopted. 

Having  thus  incidentally  mentioned  the  name 
of  Judge  William  Drayton,  it  recalls  one  of  the 
earliest  reminiscences  of  my  life.  He  lived  in 
Tradd-street,  in  the  house  now  owned  by  Judge 
Frost,  and  was  a  near  neighbour  of  my  father.  I 
was  playing,  with  other  children,  on  a  green  op- 
posite to  it,  when,  to  my  great  terror,  I  was  sent 
for  to  draw  a  jury,  which  I  only  remember  from 
taking  some  pieces  of  paper  out  of  a  box.  Look- 
ing lately  over  a  file  of  old  Gazettes,  in  that  of 
March  16,  1790,  it  is  mentioned  that  the  United 
States  District  Court  met  yesterday  at  the  Cham- 
bers of  Judge  W.  D.,  and  there  being  no  business 
for  the  Court,  it  adjourned  to  meet  in  June  next. 
'*•••  ;  :  -  . 


MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON.  101 

The  Judge  was  then  labouring  under  an  attack  of 
gout. 

Opposite  to  the  State  house  stood  the  old  Guard 
house,  in  the  upper  story  of  which  was  kept  the 
offices  of  Secretary  of  State,  Register  of  Mesne 
Conveyance,  and  Surveyor  General.  It  was  a  two 
story  building,  on  a  foundation  a  little  raised.  It 
faced  north  on  Broad-street,  with  an  imposing 
pediment,  supported  by  four  massy  pillars  of  the 
Tuscan  order.  But  they,  projecting  over  the 
pavement  and  obstructing  the  passage,  were  taken 
down.  A  fine  cornice,  or  entablature,  that  sur- 
rounded the  building,  was  also  removed,  and 
another  story  added,  which  made  it  a  very  shape- 
less structure.  But  it  accommodated  sundry 
public  officers,  which  was  paramount  to  all  con- 
siderations of  taste.  The  whole  building  was 
afterwards  taken  down,  and  the  present  one  erect- 
ed in  its  place.  The  offices  and  records  were  then 
removed  to  the  fire-proof  building  in  Chalmers- 
street.  To  the  south  of  the  building,  and  on  part 
of  the  lot  covered  by  the  present  Guard  house, 
was  the  laboratory  of  the  old  artillery,  opening 
into  Meeting-street. 

An  interesting  recollection  of  my  younger  days 
is  the  celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July  in  Charles- 
ton, when  its  associations  were  recent  and  vivid, 
and  but  one  sentiment  pervaded  our  entire  popu- 


102  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

'  m^ 

lation.  Without  referring  to  its  military  display, 
and  other  modes  of  popular  demonstration,  which 
continue  very  little  changed  to  the  present  time, 

"  Festosque  lusus,  et  licentiam  vulgi," 

I  would  merely  mention  the  religious  and  intel- 
lectual ceremonies  with  which  it  was  observed. 

It  was  much  to  the  credit  of  the  people  of 
Charleston,  that  the  patriotic  societies  which  met 
originally  to  celebrate  the  day,  assembled,  as  it 
was  meet  for  them  to  do,  in  places  of  worship, 
for  prayer  and  thanksgiving.  Their  orations  were 
strictly  commemorative  of  the  leading  events  of 
the  revolution,  and  were  both  delivered  and 
listened  to  with  becoming  enthusiasm.  St.  Philip's 
and  St.  Michael's,  being  the  largest  churches,  were 
generally  chosen  for  the  occasion,  and  were  always 
densely  crowded.  The  clergymen  who  officiated 
respectively,  had  been  both  revolutionary  patriots, 
and  wore  the  badge  of  the  Cincinnati  with  their 
canonicals.  It  was  quite  interesting  to  behold 
the  original  members  of  the  Cincinnati  on  those 
occasions,  most  of  them  dressed  in  their  revolu- 
tionary uniforms.  Amongst  them  were  officers 
who  had  been  with  Washington  at  Trenton,  at 
Valley  Forge,  Germantown,  Brandy  wine,  at  Mon- 
mouth,  and  at  Yorktown — then,  there  was  the 
gallant  Moultrie,  surrounded  by  many  of  the 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON.  103 

officers  who  had  been  with  him  on  the  28th  June, 
1776,  and  also  Colonel  Washington,  distinguished 
at  Guilford,  Cowpens  and  Eutaw. 

Then  amongst  this  honoured  group  were  to  be 
seen  those  gentlemen,  whose  handwritings  had 
bound  South  Carolina  to  the  compact  of  independ- 
ence, for  Governor  Edward  Rutledge  and  Judge 
Heyward  were  then  both  alive. 

But  this  anniversary,  once  so  interesting,  has 
become  quite  a  different  thing.  All  these  vene- 
rable characters  have  passed  away  from  amongst 
men,  and  sixty  eventful  years  have  elapsed  to 
abate  the  enthusiasm  of  the  jubilee.  New  inte- 
rests have  sprung  up ;  new  things  have  taken  the 
place  of  old  ones,  and  though  the  day  is  still  hon- 
oured, its  orators  indulge  in  political  harangues, 
bearing  rather  upon  the  present  than  the  past,  and 
too  often,  in  party  vituperation.  If,  however,  the 
enthusiasm  with  which  the  day  was  formerly 
greeted  is  lessened,  there  is  one  good  result, 
which  is,  that  its  festivities,  which  used  to  be 
boisterous  and  bacchanalian,  are  now  temperate 
and  better  regulated. 

A  word  now  about  the  ladiesr  for  these  remini- 
cences  might  well  be  deemed  deficient  if  some- 
thing was  not  said  of  them.  Indeed,  it  would  be 
ungrateful  in  us  to  lay  any  claim  to  the  commenda- 
tions bestowed  on  Charleston  society,  without 


104  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

turning  to  them  as  the  chief  source  of  all  its 
refinement. 

But  let  us,  in  considering  the  important  rank 
which  women  hold  in  modern  society,  first  briefly 
review  their  situation  in  the  most  civilized  coun- 
tries of  the  ancient  world.  Of  this,  a  Roman  lady 
will  be  a  fair  instance.  History  informs  us  that 
she  bestowed  great  care  upon  the  ornament  of 
her  person — that  her  head-dress  was  a  pyramid 
of  curls,  natural  and  artificial,  arranged  in  the 
exactest  order,  and  adorned  with  precious  stones 
and  fillets  of  various  colours ;  that  her  ear-rings 
and  necklaces  of  gold  were  set  with  richest  gems ; 
that  she  painted  and  used  expensive  cosmetics ; 
but  we  hear  very  little  of  the  cultivation  of  her 
mind,  or  the  refinement  of  her  manners. 

Indeed,  it  is  not  probable  that  one  in  a  hundred 
of  them  could  read,  for  their  chief  accomplish- 
ment was  spinning  or  weaving,  and  as  to  their 
social  rank,  we  may  form  some  idea  of  it,  when 
we  are  told  that  Roman  women  were  forbidden 
the  right  of  inheritance. 

But  what  more  need  we  say,  than  that  their 
most  magnificent  houses  wanted  that  focus  of 
social  and  personal  comfort,  a  fire-side ;  and  that 
they  were  strangers  to  the  attractions  of  the  tea- 
table,  that  great  engine,  by  whose  well-regulated 
steam,  more  has  been  done  for  the  humanizing  of 


MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON.  105 

modern  society,  than  all  the  contrivances  of  art, 
or  than  all  the  ceremonious  courtesies  of  chivalry. 
Indeed,  what  production  of  the  earth,  not  even 
excepting  our  beloved  Gossypium,  has  been  more 
profuse  and  universal  in  its  blessings  than  the 
Tea-plant? 

How  often  have  I  reflected  upon  the  unfortu- 
nate privation  to  which  our  Mothers  of  the  Revo- 
lution were  subjected,  by  that  odious  tax  which 
abridged  their  evening  enjoyment,  and  banished 
from  their  parlours  that  little  household  altar, 
whose  incense  and  libations  were  so  grateful  and 
exhilarating.  But  this  was  their  first  lesson  in 
that  course  of  suffering  which,  as  they  became 
familiarized  with  it,  exhibited  their  powers  of 
endurance,  and  that  public  spirit  which  made  the 
name  of  a  Carolina  matron  one  of  honour  and 
distinction. 

I  remember  when  a  tea-table  was  the  centre  of 
polished  intercourse,  and  the  great  attraction  of 
elegant  society  in  Charleston.  Its  reunions  were 
not  only  a  bond  of  domestic  harmony,  but  often 
drew  neighbours  together.  It  was  a  common 
custom  for  ladies  to  send  their  compliments  to  a 
friend  early  after  breakfast,  saying,  that  if  not 
engaged  in  the  evening,  they  would  take  tea  with 
her.  An  agreeable  party  was  thus  often  unex- 
pectedly made  up,  and,  however  large,  it  did  not 
14 


106  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON. 

exempt  the  lady  of  the  house  from  performing 
the  duties  of  the  tea-table,  which,  in  those  times, 
with  its  rich  display  of  china  and  plate,  was  an 
object  of  no  ordinary  interest  in  a  drawing-room, 
and  in  every  respect  worthy  of  the  fair  hands 
that  dispensed  its  honours. 

.  In  regard  to  their  intellectual  improvement,  the 
ladies  who  grew  up  with  the  Revolution,  laboured, 
as  .we  may  well  conceive,  under  great  disadvanta- 
ges. Their  education  was  interrupted,  and  their 
personal  accomplishments  necessarily  much  neg- 
lected. But  the  books  placed  in  their  hands 
were  judiciously  selected  from  the  shelves  of  the 
domestic  library,  and  better  calculated  to  improve 
their  minds  than  those  trashy  novels  and  romances 
which  afterwards  became  so  popular. 

I  remember  that  the  French  Revolution  and 
that  of  St.  Domingo,  occasioned  the  removal  of 
many  individuals  to  our  community,  who  taught 
dancing,  music  and  drawing,  and  other  accom- 
plishments, which,  before  that  time,  could  only 
have  been  obtained  abroad.  It  was  computed,  in 
the  year  1807,  that  there  were  in  our  city  thirteen 
teachers  of  the  several  branches  of  female  accom- 
plishments., all  of  whom  were  French, 

I  cannot  remember  the  days  (or  rather  nights) 
of  hoops  and  brocades,  of  laced  ruffles  and  high- 
heeled  shoes,  which  gave  such  courtly  appearance 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  107 

to  our  ball-rooms  ;  nor  when  a  gentleman  would 
solicit,  by  note,  the  honour  of  a  lady's  hand  for  a 
minuet,  a  week  in  advance.  But  such  things  were, 
as  I  often  have  heard  from  the  parties  themselves. 
But  one  thing  I  do  remember,  which  is,  that  the 
ladies  did  not  give  up  gay  society  as  early  as  they 
do  now.  The  matronly  appearance  of  the  elder 
portion  of  them  gave  dignity  to  the  gayest  as- 
semblies of  the  young,  without  being  any  restraint 
upon  their  enjoyment. 

I  remember  once,  as  a  row  of  them  sat  together 
in  a  ball-room,  hearing  them  compared  to  a  Roman 
Senate,  and  I  have  often  since  thought  how  stern- 
ly they  would  have  frowned  upon  those  grace- 
less and  exceptionable  dances,  which  the  corrupt 
fashions  of  Europe  are  recommending  to  our  imi- 
tation.* 

Dancing  is  now  exclusively  the  amusement  of 
the  young.  But  not  so  formerly.  An  elderly 
lady  once  told  me  that  at  the  first  public  assembly 
she  attended  after  the  war,  the  ball  was  opened 
by  a  minuet  between  General  Moultrie,  in  full 
regimentals,  and  a  lady  of  suitable  years,  whom 
he  afterwards  married.  At  that  time  the  General 
could  not  have  been  less  than  fifty-three  years  of 
age  ;  and  I  remember  when  it  was  very  common 

*Queen  Victoria  has  prohibited  the  polka  being  danced  in  her 
presence. 

* 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

for  both  married  gentlemen  and  married  ladies  to 
enter  much  into  the  spirit  of  a  country  dance. 
Mais  cependant,  tout  cela  est  change. 

Fashion  is  that  unwritten  law  which  regulates 
the  intercourse  of  society.  Those  who  are  inde- 
pendent in  every  thing  else,  yield  it  almost  an 
unconditional  obedience.  Many  of  its  require- 
ments, which,  if  abruptly  imposed,  would  produce 
dismay,  are  yet  insinuated  by  such  artful  advances, 
that  we  are  won  to  submission  before  we  are  aware 
of  it.  What  greater  proof  of  this  could  there  be 
than  the  success  with  which  it  approaches  and 
triumphs  over  the  most  fastidious  prejudices  of 
the  ladies — compelling  them  to  do,  at  one  time, 
what  they  would  promptly  refuse  to  do  at  another. 
I  have  seen  instances  of  display  in  our  ball-rooms, 
in  the  days  of  low-necked  dresses  and  sleeveless 
robes,  which  would  shock  a  young  lady  of  the 
present  time;  and  yet,  what  would  have  been 
thought  then  of  a  young  lady  who  would  have 
dared  to  exhibit  in  public,  as  an  appendage  to 
her  person,  such  a  monstrosity  of  form  as  that 
produced  by  a  well-stuffed  bustle,  attracting  all 
eyes  to  a  point  where  they  could  not  meet  the 
reproof  of  her  own. 

In  no  part  of  female  fashions  do  I  remember  a 
greater  variety,  than  in  the  head-dress.  When  I 
was  a  boy,  the  hair  was  suffered  to  hang  over  the 


MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON.  109 

shoulders  in  all  its  native  length  and  profusion, 
and  the  longest  tresses  were  always  most  admired. 
After  that,  and  until  the  year  1800,  no  lady  ever 
appeared  in  grand  costume,  without  first  submit- 
ting to  the  operations  of  the  hair-dresser ;  and 
those  artists  were  in  such  demand  upon  the  occa- 
sion of  a  great  public  ball,  that  they  had  to  com- 
mence their  important  labours  the  day  before  it ; 
and  it  was  not  uncommon  for  a  lady,  after  having 
had  her  hair  frizzed  up  into  a  grand  coiffure,  to 
pass  a  whole  night  in  an  upright  position,  for  fear 
of  disturbing  it.  In  addition  to  this,  powder, 
either  brown  or  white,  as  best  suited  the  com- 
plexion, was  used,  and  patches,  also,  which  history 
informs  us,  was  a  very  common  custom  amongst 
the  sex. 

But  in  1800,  wigs  and  turbans  became  fashion- 
able, and  were  thought  just  as  essential  to  beauty 
as  any  style  of  dress  that  had  preceded  them. 
Neither  brown,  nor  black,  nor  auburn,  nor  flaxen 
locks  could  escape  the  inexorable  decree  of  fashion. 
And  the  scissors,  like  those  of  the  fates,  triumphed 
over  all  their  beauty  and  luxuriancy.  The  custom 
of  wearing  wigs  is  supposed  to  have  proceeded 
from  the  quantities  of  beautiful  hair  cut  off  from 
the  victims  of  the  guillotine.  Hair  became  even 
an  article  of  commerce.  A  merchant  in  extensive 
business  once  told  me,  that  during  the  prevalence 


v\ 

• 


110  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON. 

of  that  fashion,  he  had  received  a  consignment  of 
a  case  or  trunk  of  beautiful  tresses,  that  had  come 
from  France. 

To  wigs  succeeded  the  graceful  aud  classic 
costume  of  the  Greek  head-dress,  as  transmitted 
in  their  statuary ;  and  this  fashion,  so  simple  and 
beautiful,  and  withal  so  natural,  has  been  pre- 
served with  but  little  change  to  the  present  day. 
"  Esto  perpetua. " 

One  tribute  is  due  to  the  fairer  portion  of  our 
community,  far  exceeding  all  admiration  of  their 
external  graces  and  accomplishments,  and  that  is 
claimed  by  their  inward  loveliness  and  purity. 
In  this  respect  the  ladies  of  Charleston  need  not 
fear  a  comparison  with  those  of  any  community 
in  the  world.  For  whether  in  domestic  retire- 
mant,  or  in  the  vortex  of  fashionable  frivolity, 
they  bear  with  them  a  moral  rectitude,  an  innate 
self-respect,  the  very  amulet  of  virtue,  which 
justly  ranks  them  amongst  the  loveliest  of  their 
sex. 

In  few  of  my  recollections  of  the  past  is  there 
a  more  striking  contrast  with  the  present,  than  in 
the  intellectual  condition  of  our  females.  I  have 
before  alluded  to  the  great  disadvantages  under 
which  they  formerly  laboured,  and  it  was  very 
long  after  the  peace  before  this  difficulty  ceased. 
But  I  will  venture  to  assert,  that  in  nothing  is  the 


MT    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON.  Ill 

advancement  of  civilization  in  our  country  more 
strikingly  exhibited,  within  the  last  twenty  years, 
than  in  the  enlarged  means  of  female  education. 
Before  that  period,  there  was  not  only  a  want  of 
competent  instructors,  but  of  all  the  facilities 
important  to  the  success  of  their  labours.  But 
now,  every  branch  of  literary  knowledge  not  only 
has  its  proper  elementary  books,  but  such  as  are 
suited  to  every  grade  of  advancement.  And  it 
could  not  but  have  been  gratifying  to  us  all,  to 
learn  from  the  essay  delivered  at  our  last  meeting, 
by  one  competent  to  judge,  that  the  demand  for 
school-books  forms  a  very  considerable  item  in  the 
success  of  the  book  trade  in  the  United  States. 

Another  important  fact  in  connection  with  this 
subject,  is  the  highly  improved  character  and 
abilities  of  our  teachers  :  and  it  is  an  omen  from 
which  much  good  may  be  augured,  that  they, 
whether  male  or  female,  are  now  properly  estima- 
ted, as  benefactors  to  society  of  the  highest  order. 
Far  be  it  from  me  to  condemn  any  proper  means 
of  improving  their  minds.  But  "Female  Insti- 
tutes," and  "  Female  Collegiate  Establishments," 
are  now,  not  uncommon  terms  as  applied  to  semi- 
naries for  young  ladies ;  and  the  branches  of 
education  professed  to  be  taught  therein,  are 
equally  boastful,  in  my  humble  opinion,  and  un- 
suitable. The  object  of  their  instruction  ought 


112  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

not  to  be  to  make  them  learned,  but  it  should  be 
directed  to  the  development  of  the  moral  and  in- 
tellectual qualities  suitable  to  the  becoming  dis- 
charge of  the  peculiar  duties  designed  for  them 
by  nature ;  to  their  position  in  society,  and  their 
relations  in  domestic  life.  Poetry  and  prose  are 
not  more  different  in  their  respective  scope  and 
province,  than  the  intellectual  character  of  men 
and  women.  I  may  almost  say  that  the  minds  of 
each  are  severally  pourtrayed  in  them.  Each  has 
its  proper  theatre  of  display  and  exercise.  It  is 
the  province  of  one  to  refine,  to  adorn,  to  tran- 
quilize,  and  to  make 

"  Well  ordered  home  man's  best  delight," 

whilst  the  scene  of  action  for  the  other  is  as  wide 
as  the  world  itself,  with  all  its  risks,  and  dangers, 
and  rivalries,  and  the  talents  and  energies  re- 
quired for  it,  of  a  totally  different  character.  It 
is  the  harmonious  co-operation  of  different  moral 
elements  that  promote  and  accomplish  the  great 
ends  of  life.  The  head  and  the  obverse  of  the 
coin  must  be  taken  together,  to  stamp  its  value, 
and  give  it  currency. 

I  cannot,  therefore,  but  think  that  the  time  spent 
in  teaching  young  ladies  the  dead  languages,  logic, 
algebra,  etc.,  might  be  better  appropriated  in  im- 
parting to  them  a  correct  knowledge  of  their 


MY    REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON.  113 

native  tongue,  in  familiarizing  them  with  the  best 
models  of  English  style,  and  in  enlarging  their 
minds  with  a  knowledge  of  history  and  geogra- 
phy, and  of  those  practical  views  of  the  unchang- 
ing character  of  human  nature,  exhibited  in  the 
essays  of  Addison  and  Johnson,  Goldsmith  and 
Dr.  Hawkesworth.  The  ambition  of  literary  dis- 
tinction is  now  very  prevalent  with  the  sex.  But, 
without  any  disposition  to  undervalue  their  claims, 
whenever  I  hear  of  a  female  traveller  clambering 
the  Alps,  or  describing  the  classic  grounds  of 
Greece  and  Italy,  publishing  her  musings  in  the 
holy  land,  or  revealing  the  mysteries  of  the  ha- 
rem, I  cannot  but  think  that  for  every  success 
obtained  some  appropriate  duty  has  been  neg- 
lected. 

I  except  the  poetess,  for  hers  are  the  effusions 
of  the  heart  and  the  imagination,  prompted  by 
nature  and  uttered  because  they  are  irrepressible. 
Many  females  travel  for  the  purpose  of  writing 
and  publishing  books — whilst  Mrs.  Heman's,  Mrs. 
Osgood's  and  Mrs.  Sigourney's  volumes  may  be 
regarded  as  grateful  offerings  to  the  muse  in  re- 
turn for  her  inspiration. 

Having    brought    down    my   recollections    of 

Charleston  through  a  long  distance  of  time  to  the 

present,  it  is  gratifying  to  reflect  on  the  contrast 

she  now  exhibits  with  what  she  did  at  tlie  time 

15 


114  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

from  which  we  sat  out.  We  have  before  alluded 
to  the  causes  of  the  adversity  under  which  she 
then  laboured ;  but,  during  the  interval  from  that 
period  to  the  present,  her  advancement,  however 
tardy  and  fluctuating  at  first,  has  been  greater 
than  could  have  justified  the  most  sanguine  antici- 
pations. To  be  the-  emporium  of  an  internal  trade, 
bounded  by  the  limits  of  our  State,  was  amongst 
her  highest  hopes ;  but,  since  the  introduction  and 
application  of  steam,  her  prospects  have  a  far 
more  extended  scope.  Well  might  she  be  proud 
of  the  fact,  that  out  of  her  immediate  precincts 
issued  the  first  locomotive  tried  in  the  United 
States ;  and,  also,  the  first  railroad  of  one  hundred 
continuous  miles  ever  travelled  over  in  the  world, 
and  the  first,  also,  that  ever  transported  the  mail. 
That  road,  connecting  her  with  Hamburg,  in  this 
State,  was  completed  about  the  year  1833,*  and 
has  ever  since  continued  in  most  successful  opera- 
tion— receiving  in  its  course,  through  one  main 
branch,  the  productions  of  almost  every  part  of 
our  State.  Amply  has  she  realized  the  advanta- 

'"•j'irti  '  * 

*The  South  Carolina  Rail-Road  was  finished  in  October,  1833.  Its 
charter  was  obtained  in  1827,  and  books  of  subscription  opened  on 
the  17th  March,  1828.  In-  May,  1828,  it  was  organized.  From 
Charleston  to  Branchville,  sixty-two  miles  waa  opened  for  public  travel 
on  the  7th  November,  1832,  being  one  year,  ten  months  and  twenty-one 
days  from  its  commencement,  and  in  October,  1833,  the  cars  ran  to 
Hamburg,  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  mites. 


MY   REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON.  115 

ges  to  which  her  enterprize  entitles  her ;  for 
to  the  agency  of  steam  is  mainly  attributable  the 
prosperity  she  now  enjoys.  Since  its  introduction 
her  local  manufactures  have  been  improved,  her 
business  relations  have  been  extended,  her  educa- 
tional, professional  and  charitable  institutions  en- 
larged, her  municipal  structures  repaired  or  rebuilt 
with  great  architectural  beauty,  new  streets  opened 
and  former  ones  improved,  her  limits  enlarged, 
her  banking  and  commercial  capital  increased, 
new  business  institutions  established.  Nor  are 
these  the  only  evidence  of  her  advancement.  She 
is  now  boldly  involving  herself  in  the  i  fate  and 
fortunes  of  gigantic  enterprizes,  by  lavish  subscrip- 
tions to  distant  railroads,  in  the  sanguine  hope 
that,  when  completed,  they  will  increase  her  com- 
merce with  the  neighbouring  States,  and  invite  to 
this  market  the  agricultural  and  other  productions 
of  a  most  fertile  and  thriving  country. 

The  writer  of  these  pages  will,  in  all  probability, 
have  passed  away  before  such  golden  visions  can 
be  realized,  which,  however,  he  ardently  wishes 
they  may ;  but  yet  he  may  be  allowed  to  express 
the  hope  that  the  youngest  man  of  those  who  are 
called  "Young  Charleston,"  may  live  to  see  our 
beloved  city  relieved  from  the  ponderous  liabili- 
ties to  which  these  subscriptions  are  subjecting 
her. 


4 

V. 


116  MY   REMINISCENCES   OF   CHARLESTON. 

The  public  improvements  and  embellishments 
which  our  city  has  undergone,  in  my  recollection, 
are  chiefly  of  recent  date,  and  need  no  descrip- 
tion ;  but  the  opening  of  the  City  Square,  which 
took  place  about  the  year  1818,  may  be  regarded 
as  their  era.  The  buildings  displaced  by  it  were 
mean  and  densely  crowded ;  and  what  is  now  a 
beautiful  walk  of  shade  trees,  was  once  a  reproach 
to  the  city  as  well  on  the  score  of  morals  as  of 
taste.  The  opening  of  Chalmers-street,  (formerly 
Beresford's  alley)  which  was  made  about  the  same 
time,  and  which  was  in  some  manner  connected 
with  it,  occasioned  the  removal  of  many  squalid 
hovels,  in  keeping  with  its  former  sobriquet  Mu- 
latto alley.  These  improvements,  which  were 
attended  with  considerable  expense  to  the  city, 
made  their  popularity  very  questionable  at  first ; 
but  all  objection  soon  passed  away,  and  every 
citizen  acknowledged  their  value. 

The  number  of  our  hotels  and  the  splendour  of 
their  accommodations  shew  that  Charleston  comes 
in  for  her  full  share  of  that  advancement  which 
the  increased  facilities  of  travel  are  extending 
over  all  the  large  cities  of  our  continent.  It  must 
be  within  the  recollection  of  many  that  formerly, 
on  public  occasions,  which  collected  people  from 
all  parts  of  the  State,  after  over-crowding  the 
boarding  houses,  many  were  obliged  to  resort  to 


•*; 


MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON.  117 

steamboats  for  accommodation.  I  think  I  can 
safely  say  that  I  remember  the  time  when  there 
was  no  such  thing  as  a  hotel  in  the  city.  There 
were  several  taverns  in  King-street.  I  remember 
Martin's  tavern,  on  the  east  side,  nearly  opposite 
to  where  the  Victoria  now  stands,  (afterwards 
burnt  down) ;  another,  on  the  east  side  also,  near 
Broad-street,  whose  masonry  still  shews  where 
there  was  a  large  arch- way  for  carriages,  etc.,  to 
drive  through.  Over  the  pavement,  opposite  this 
arch-way,  hung  a  swinging  sign,  representing 
Washington  at  full  length.*  Then  there  was 
Harris'  tavern,  on  the  Bay,  (now  the  French  Coffee 
house),  the  City  tavern,  and  William's  Coffee-house 
in  Tradd-street,  corner  of  Bedon's  alley.  Corbett's 
"thatched  tavern"  stood  in  Meeting-street,  mid- 
way between  Chalmers  and  Broad,  on  land  now 
occupied  by  the  City  Square.  There  were  also 
several  private  boarding  houses,  of  which  I  re- 
member a  very  reputable  one  in  Elliott-street,  at 
the  corner  of  Gadsden's  alley.  (Elliott-street  was 
formerly  the  great  dry  goods  mart  of  Charleston.) 
But  such  magnificent  hotels  as  the  Pavilion,  the 
Victoria,  the  Charleston  hotel,  the  Mills  house, 
and  others  that  might  be  named,  never  entered  (I 

*I  have  heard  that  this  sign  was  very  much  abused  by  a  rabble  du- 
ring the  exciting  times  of  Jay's  treaty. 


7*  *.   *''   iirV*  '* 

•» 

118  MY    REMINISCENCES   OF    CHARLESTON. 

•  ^f  •  •  ^  "•  -x' 

ween)  into  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of  our 
worthy  predecessors. 

In  concluding  these  reminiscences,  I  am  im- 
pressed by  one  reflection,  which  is,  that  although 
necessarily  unconnected  in  time,  and  desultory  in 
fact,  they  all  serve  to  show  the  mutability  of  all 
things  that  surround  us.  To  this  conclusion,  in- 
deed, every  retrospect  of  the  past  must  inevitably 
lead.  But  it  is  particularly  striking  in  a  country 
and  age  so  remarkable  as  ours  are  for  activity  and 
progress.  We  have  seen  how  little  in  the  exter- 
nal aspect  of  our  city  remains  of  what  it  was  a 
half  century  ago.  Men  have  been  introduced  to 
our  notice,  in  the  fullness  of  their  reputation, 
whose  names  are  now  only  to  be  found  inscribed 
on  the  marble  that  covers  them,  or  in  the  page 
that  records  their  public  virtues  and  services. 

We  have  described  buildings,  no  doubt  in  their 
day,  intended  for  durability,  but  which  have  since 
either  been  destroyed  by  fire,  or  replaced  by 
others  better  adapted  to  modern  wants.  We  have 
even  seen  society  itself  changing  its  habits  in  con- 
formity with  a  new  system  of  policy  and  govern- 
ment. 

Nor  is  this  all.  I  observe  old  family  mansions 
now  occupied,  not  even  by  the  descendants  of 
those  whom  I  remember  as  their  former  inhabi- 
tants. In  my  walks  I  look  in  vain  for  the  fa- 

•   ••»-.V-j.^  '4*^*     V 

<>/,  V 

*  .£•/"»        «>' 


MY    REMINISCENCES    OF    CHARLESTON. 


119 


miliar  faces  that  used  to  gladden  me.  In  the 
early  part  of  these  reminiscences,  I  mentioned  my 
having  been  a  pupil  of  the  Charleston  College,  in 
1792.  Of  all  that  I  remember  there,  in  healthful, 
happy  boyhood,  I  know  of  but  four  survivors — 
venerable  gentlemen,  now  living  in  the  knowledge 
and  respect  of  our  whole  community.  These  four 
are — Governor  Bennett,  Judge  Huger,  Dr.  Joseph 
Johnson,  and  Daniel  Huger,  Esq. 

May  all  who  have  the  patience  to  read  these 
pages  to  the  end,  call  to  mind  that  they,  as  well 
as  every  thing  around  them,  are  the  subject  of 
change,  and  that  they  too,  how  soon  they  know 
not,  must  pass  away,  and  live  only  in  remembrance. 


V*** 

*    * 


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